The Case of the Diseased Smashers
by Branchwing
Summary: Shortly after the announcement of the fifth tournament, a disease that makes people act like zombies begins to spread around the Smash Mansion. The Detective Squad must band together again to find the source of the disease before it's too late. (Sequel to The Case of the Missing Smasher)
1. Chapter 1: Announcement

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any characters! I only own the plot!**

 **Rated T for language and potentially disturbing imagery.**

 **I apologize if any character seems OOC.**

* * *

"Everyone is here!" was what the newest trailer proclaimed.

As expected, cheers rang out from the crowd. No one was getting cut, meaning Master Hand and Crazy Hand had decided to bring back the Exiles to the Smash Mansion. This gave the Smashers that have been here the longest to reunite with old friends, and even give the newest members the chance to meet the Exiles. Well, the members who had never had contact with the Exiles, of course. Pit had never been in a tournament with Pichu and Young Link, but he had met the latter during his quest in the Land of the Exiles almost three years ago.

What about Pichu? Well, according to Dark Pit, Pit's flawed clone, he was decapitated moments before Dark Pit betrayed the S.W.E.T., or Smashers Who do Evil Things, and fled to the Smash Mansion. That was years ago, when the fourth tournament had only been going on for several months.

When an assembly was called, all Smashers packed into an auditorium, where they were seated by franchise. Franchises with only one representative usually got a row to themselves. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on the interpretation, Pit was not alone in his row like he was for the third tournament; he was seated with Dark Pit and the goddess of light, Palutena. Next to him, the angel heard a grumble from his darker twin.

"I have to spend more time here?" he muttered under his breath. "I'm a little disappointed."

"It's not that bad," Pit whispered back. "At least you'll be with me and Lady Palutena and Magnus and Phosphora!" Magnus and Phosphora were assist trophies. Even if they did not directly participate in a fight, they got to help out when summoned. And such, the two also resided at the Smash Mansion.

"Pit, we only get pulled out if we get a new game," he argued in a low voice. "Palutena has an excuse, she has a realm to manage, but we don't!"

"Oh, Pittoo, don't get yourself down," Pit said. "Why not try making new friends?" The dark-winged angel let out an _hmph_ , and turned his attention back to the screen.

If he had to admit, Dark Pit barely had any friends within the Smash Mansion. His abrasive nature often drew people away from him. The only actual friends he had, other than those from _Kid Icarus_ , were Lucina and Dr. Mario. Dr. Mario was actually just Mario in a doctor's outfit, but other Smashers considered them as separate people, even if they were one-in-the-same. Lucina, however, was a different story. Rumors had been flying around of a romance between them. Both of them denied it.

Once the trailer had finished, the screen went black, and two floating hands arrived on stage. Master Hand and Crazy Hand. They were easily distinguished by their mannerisms; the former moved in a rather calm, professional manner, while the latter often had jerky and sudden movements, as well as being a little… unhinged.

Master Hand took the microphone. "Ahem, may I have everyone's attention," he started, his echoing voice projecting across the auditorium. "Now, some of you may be thinking, 'Why are the Exiles being forgiven for their crimes?'. Well, we had decided to give them a second chance." If floating hands could wink, the right hand probably would have done so. "Besides, we want this to be the ultimate Smash Bros. tournament."

"We're also pardoning Luigi!" Crazy Hand quickly added. Murmurs of uncertainty erupted from the audience. Everyone knew of how the green-clad plumber had assembled the S.W.E.T. and then kidnapped Mario out of jealously. At first, he rested in the dungeons for his crimes, but after a month or so, the Hands had simply placed him on house arrest, only letting him out of his room to participate in matches or to leave for a new _Super Mario Bros._ game.

"He is right," Master Hand confirmed.

"Ike! Roy! Bring him in!" the left hand called. Everyone's attention turned to the entrance of the auditorium, where the two swordsmen held a grip on the plumber's arms as they escorted him in. Luigi did not struggle at all, to Pit's surprise. In fact, he remained rather calm, with a flicker of regret flashing in his blue eyes. The two continued to escort up onto the stage. Master Hand put the microphone on its stand, and lowered it to Luigi's height.

"Excuse a-me, everyone," Mario's brother started. "I like to-a express my a-gratitude to Master Hand and Crazy Hand for-a letting me participate in the tournament-a again." He then turned his focus to Mario. The iconic plumber sat in the very first row in the middle seat. He was Nintendo's mascot, after all, and that came with its luxuries. "And a-Mario. My a-brother! I am truly sorry for-a kidnapping you."

Mario exchanged a few uncertain glances with Peach, who was sitting next to him, and returned his attention to Luigi. "Apology accepted." Still, a trace of doubt was present in his voice.

"A-thank you." The plumber was then escorted off the stage, and Master Hand retook the microphone.

"Now, Luigi will not be pardoned right away," the floating hand clarified. "However, he will be when the fifth tournament starts on December 7th."

"We have to wait half a year?!" Bowser Jr. cried out in dismay.

"Yes, yes, you do," Master Hand affirmed. "We still need to gather up the Exiles and prepare them for transport back to the Smash Mansion."

"And who knows how long that will take?" Crazy Hand chimed in. "The Land of the Exiles is _huge_!"

He had a point. The Land of the Exiles was a vast, desert-like plain with little vegetation or even water. The sun is sweltering, and it is easy to get lost if you do not know your way around. Pit had been there only once in order to retrieve Mario with the rest of the Detective Squad, and even then, he had a guide.

"Are you sure you can get all of them in time?" Corrin asked.

"Why, yes, we are sure we can," Master Hand replied. "They tend to stay together."

"With that settled, any more questions?" Crazy Hand asked. Silence settled down across the auditorium, making it obvious that no one had any more questions.

"Alright, then. Everyone is dismissed."

With the closure, everyone rose from the seats and scrambled out of the small room in a large mob. They all returned to what they were doing before the assembly of Smashers. Pit in particular was going to spar with Dark Pit moments before the announcement was called to gather in the auditorium. By the nature of assemblies, Dark Pit was usually seated right next to him. Thus, he was also next to Pit at the moment.

"So, Pittoo," Pit started.

"Don't call me that," the grumpy angel interrupted with a growl.

" _Dark Pit_ , sorry. Anyways, ready for that match?"

"You bet." A small smirk came across his face. "I'm sure I will win this time."

The brunette did not answer to his clone's boast. Instead, he replied, "Well, let's see what happens!"

Pit ran off into the hallways to his room, where he had last put his bow. The sacred bow of Palutena was his favorite weapon, entrusted to him by Palutena herself. With arrows of light, he could hone in on an opponent from a distance easily. Entering into the white-walled dormitory, he was relieved to see the golden bow right on his bed, where he had left it before he went to the auditorium. Grabbing it and the other weapons he used on the battlefield, the Guardian Orbitars and the Upperdash Arm, he ran back out into the lobby, where Dark Pit had not arrived yet.

The angel looked up at the newly-installed television hanging above the doors to the arena. The flat-screen TV displayed the next match, which was, as he expected, between himself and Pittoo. A picture of him was displayed on the left side of the screen, while a picture of the raven-haired angel was displayed on the right side. It all looked neat and proper, complete with a 'VS.' label and their names displayed alongside the pictures.

Footsteps rang through the extravagant hall as Dark Pit approached, and Pit turned around to face him. He held the Silver Bow in his hand, which was his preferred weapon. Pit also knew he carried the Electroshock Arm, another pair of Guardian Orbitars, and his staff as well. Like him, the extra weapons were also used on the battlefield.

As watchers poured into the spectator gate, the two knew that their battle was going to start shortly. Without saying another word to each other, the two stepped into the gates to the battlefield.

Pit found himself beaming down onto the platform of Delfino Plaza, followed by Dark Pit.

"3, 2, 1, GO!"

As the match was started, Dark Pit immediately dashed towards his lighter counterpart, bow split into two blades. The light angel jumped out of the way and shot an arrow at him from behind, causing the doppelganger to stop in his tracks. As the platform started to hover over to another location, Pittoo jumped onto one of the smaller platforms, and got out his Electroshock Arm. He slammed into Pit with it, and an electrical surge went through the angel's body. Pit was launched to the other end of the platform, but he got up quickly, shaking off the current.

But Dark Pit was not done with his assault yet. He brought his bow back out and slashed it at Pit, almost knocking him off. The platform stopped in front of a gate, and it dropped them off of platform. The two dueling Smashers were now on the rooftop of a building. The angel threw his shield up, trying to protect himself from the darker one's attacks. Soon enough, he rolled out of the way, escaping from certain doom. Pit ran to the other end of the stage to shoot another arrow, only to have it deflected by Dark Pit's Guardian Orbitars. He threw up his shield again to protect himself against the incoming arrow.

Both angels ran towards each other, causing a swordfight to break out. Blades clashed against one another as the two struggled to get a hit in on the other. Soon enough, the Palutena Bow landed a hit, causing the dark angel to flinch and stop his attacks. This gave Pit an opening. Spinning the bow, he made sure Dark Pit was caught up in it, and the damage done to him started to rack off. He finished with a slash, sending his victim flying into the air. As the platform returned to take the Smashers elsewhere, the doppelganger repositioned himself and landed safely. He flashed a determined red glare at Pit, and got out his Electroshock Arm once more.

Pit got out his Upperdash Arm in response. The two tried to strike each other, but they ended up passing each other instead. While Dark Pit got his bow back out again, Pit took this chance to hit him with the weapon he had out now. Before the boy could shoot an arrow of darkness, he was sent straight up into the air with one hit of the Upperdash Arm. Even if the brunette hoped it was enough, it would not be the case. Dark Pit landed back on the small platform with a thud, and quickly got back on his feet. A crate spawned next to him, and upon seeing it, Pit dashed towards it. Dark Pit had an advantage, however, and broke the crate. In front of him were a Beetle, a Beehive, and a Beam Sword. He grabbed the Beehive and threw it at the light angel.

Upon impact, a swarm of bees raced out of the broken hive and towards Pit. They circled around him like a school of fish, except much angrier. Their stingers dug into his fair skin, causing the angel to cry out in pain over and over again. With the stings just starting to swell, he could not focus real well. And Dark Pit saw this as the perfect chance to strike. With the electrifying weapon covering his hand, he swung it right into his gut, sending Pit flying. And thanks to this, Pit succumbed to his injuries and fell into the blue void below. A red streak followed his knock-out. He had lost.

"GAME!" the announcer proclaimed. As the two twin angels teleported off the stage, the announcer then announced, "The winner is… Dark Pit!"

A cocky smirk appeared on the doppelganger's face as he twirled his self-named staff. "Looks like I'm the last man standing."

A fully-healed Pit walked up to him, clapping. "Well, good game, Pittoo. Good game." The dark angel winced at the sound of his nicknamed.

He had to admit, he was a little disappointed that he had lost the match, but yet, he had to feel proud of his clone. It was rare for Dark Pit to win a match against the light angel, and when he did, Phosphora and Viridi happily cheered him on. Pit didn't know why, but whenever he sees Dark Pit with them, he looked genuinely happy, with a true smile on his face and everything.

The two angels walked out of the gates leading out of the arena, and they were met with some familiar faces. In the center of the group was the goddess of light, Palutena, a gentle smile on her face. Next to her was Lucario, the Aura Pokemon who could speak in human language telepathically. On the other side of her were the two Robins, friends Pit had made ever since the Detective Squad was first formed. Finally, next to Lucario was Lucina, the stoic princess of Ylisse.

Lucina was the first to speak up. "You did well, Dark Pit." She walked up to him and set her hand on his shoulder. "I'm proud of you."

The angel's face tinged only the slightest of reds, and a small smile came across his face. "Thanks." Shaking his head, he regained his more serious persona. "I've been training for so long, and now, I finally beat Pit."

"I wouldn't say 'finally'…" Palutena chimed in. "You beat him before."

"Let him have his moment," the male Robin suggested to the goddess. "Can you remember the last time he won?"

"Wasn't that a few months ago?" Lucario asked.

Pit walked over to the others to join them, and replied, "I think so." He scratched his head. "Actually, I can't remember."

The Pokemon shook his head in disappointment. "He and Lucina do this every time he wins." He let out a huff. "I'm just glad they aren't making out or anything," he whispered to Pit.

 _Maybe those rumors are true,_ Pit pondered. _But I'm happy for him._

"Anyways," the goddess started, "I have something to show you. It is important!"

Pit's attention snapped to Lady Palutena. "What is it?" he asked, curious.

"All of you, meet me in the courtyard tonight," she requested. "Especially you, Pittoo."

The dark angel rolled his eyes. "I think I got what you meant the first time."

"Still," she emphasized.

"Okay, Lady Palutena," the lighter angel chirped. "I'll make sure we're all there!"

* * *

"Robin, Robin!" the young voice called to the white-haired tactician. "Remember what Lady Palutena said? She said she has something for us!"

"I know, Pit," he replied as calmly as he could. Folding the corner of the page, he set down the book he was reading on his dresser, and rose from his bed. "Trust me, I haven't forgotten."

As the two Smashers walked to the courtyard, they had a small conversation.

"What do you think she has for us?" Pit asked.

"Honestly, I don't know," Robin replied. "Perhaps she has some books for us."

"Come on, Robin," the angel groaned. "You know I can't read. Okay, I can, but only picture books. Picture books are my favorite!"

"Well, how about a buffet? You like food, do you not?"

"Well, if it has floor ice cream, I'm sold!"

The tactician felt a little sick at his comment. "That's not healthy at all. Especially if it has been on the ground."

"Well, who cares? I like it."

Robin sighed. "Well, each person to its own."

Soon enough, the two arrived at the courtyard, an enclosed area located in the back of the Smash Mansion. A fountain was the main feature of it, being right in the middle of this peaceful relaxation spot. When the library was unavailable, Robin came here, if it wasn't raining or dark, of course. It seems they were the first one to arrive, as not even Palutena was here.

However, someone else was. Mewtwo sat on the very top of the fence, looking out in the distance. As if by instinct, Pit rushed up to him. Robin decided to go over there as well. He was not friends with the Genetic Pokemon, but he was still a fellow Smasher.

"Hey, Mewtwo!" Pit called. "What are you doing?"

The Pokemon remained silent; in fact, he didn't acknowledge Pit, as if he were in a trance.

"Mewtwo? Hello?" The angel tapped his tail, which was dangling from the top of the stone wall.

"Huh?" the Pokemon gasped. Looking behind him, he saw Pit and Robin standing below. "Oh, it's just you two." He groaned. "What do you want?"

"We were just wondering what you were doing," the white-haired man told him.

Mewtwo's eyes narrowed. "Must you ask?"

"Come on, Mewtwo," the brunette cried. "You're acting more grumpy than usual."

"…It's a little personal," the Genetic Pokemon confessed. He turned away from the two of them. "It has to deal with the Exiles."

"Oh…" Pit frowned.

"It's okay," Robin said. "We won't get into your business." He glanced at Pit. "…Right?"

"Yeah… right." The light angel started to walk to a bench near the fountain, worrying his friend.

"I'm sorry for bothering you, Mewtwo," he quickly told the creature before running off after Pit. "Pit, what's gotten into you?"

The angel sat down on the bench they had just arrived at, yet he avoided the tactician's golden gaze. "I just want to help Mewtwo," he started, a melancholic ring to his voice, "but it's hard to do that when he doesn't want to talk to me."

"Pit… Look at me." Robin sat down next to him, filling the wooden bench up. The angel rested his gaze on him with sad blue eyes. "You can't help everyone." He frowned. "Trust me, I tried once."

"But I'd feel so bad if I don't," he argued. "It goes against my morals."

"I know Pit, but-"

Robin was interrupted as he saw his female counterpart, Robyn, walk into the courtyard, along with Palutena.

"What were you doing?!" Robyn immediately scolded. "I've been looking all over for you!"

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "Pit brought me out here early."

"Lady Palutena!" the angel cried out, and sprang out of the bench, running up to the goddess. "What do you have for us?"

"Hi, Pit," she greeted with a smile. "You'll see once the others get here."

"Aw…" He sat down in yet another bench, and now, all of them had to wait for Dark Pit, Lucina, and Lucario to arrive.

A few minutes later, the Aura Pokemon arrived at the courtyard, although he struggled to keep his eyes open.

"Hello," he greeted. The group gave their greetings back to him, and then Lucario whispered to Palutena, "Can you make this quick, please?"

"I can't promise that," she admitted. "We have to wait until Dark Pit and Lucina get here."

He groaned, and started to leave the courtyard.

"Lucario?" Robin asked loudly. "Where are you going?"

"Back to the Daycare," he replied. "One of you can wake me up when they get here."

"But-" Pit started.

As soon as Lucario opened the door leading back into the mansion, he was met with two faces.

"…Never mind," he grumbled. He stepped out of the way, revealing Lucina and Dark Pit, walking into the yard.

"Finally!" the light angel exclaimed. "I've been waiting all day!"

"Alright, gather around, everyone." Palutena waved her staff, and the six Smashers present formed a circle around her. "You may want to step back."

The orb on the end of the green-haired lady's staff began to glow, and then, a magenta stream of light began to soar into the air. Robin looked up at the stream as it traveled into the night sky, and then, it exploded, dazzling the darkness with vibrant streams of light. He didn't know what she did, but it looked beautiful.

"Celestial Firework?" puzzled Dark Pit. "But why?"

 _Ah, so that's what it was,_ Robin realized.

"Oh, lighten up, Pittoo," Pit said. "Isn't it pretty?"

"I was expecting something more… useful. Not a complete waste of my time," the dark angel explained.

"Perhaps you should learn to appreciate life a little more, Pittoo," Palutena suggested. Dark Pit winced at the mention of his nickname. "I'm sure you'll have a much better attitude if you do."

"We're immortal, Palutena," he simply said.

"I know, but compared to me and Pit, you're still quite young," she replied.

"You know, Lady Palutena…" Pit chirped. "Are you gonna launch more fireworks?"

"Of course." Palutena's staff glowed once more, and another stream of light, a cyan one, launched into the air, and it exploded far above them, just like the previous one. She continued this, until the half moon was high in the night.

She tried to suppress a yawn. "I think that's enough for tonight. What do you think?"

"It was beautiful, Palutena," Lucina responded, still in awe at the mass amount of celestial fireworks.

"I agree, it was stunning," Robyn added. Robin simply gave a nod of agreement.

"It was absolutely amazing!" Pit exclaimed. "I loved every single moment of it!"

"Of course you did," Dark Pit muttered. Despite the group's efforts, he still was not happy.

"Finally, it's over," Lucario resounded. "I can't wait to sleep!"

"I think we all do," Palutena agreed.

"Well, good night, Lady Palutena," the light angel said.

"Good night, Pit," the goddess replied.

As the Smashers said their goodbyes, they all went to their rooms, hoping for a peaceful sleep.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, I decided to release the sequel to "The Case of the Missing Smasher" on the three-year anniversary of the uploading of its first chapter! I wanted to try have better writing in this sequel but still maintain the original charm of the original, but... I don't think I succeeded. It's better and longer, yes, but the chapters in the original were quite short. Well, I don't know when the next chapter will be, hopefully it will be before the end of the year. Branchwing, out!**


	2. Chapter 2: Mysterious Bite

The next morning, Mewtwo was found unconscious inside the courtyard, with a strange, pulsing bite on his foot. Lucario, concerned for his fellow Pokemon, went over to see what happened.

"Stay a-back," Dr. Mario cautioned. "We-a don't know what-a happened to a-him."

"He's unconscious," Lucario said. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"A lot of things could happen," commented Jigglypuff in the Pokemon language. She had tagged along with Lucario. "He could wake up and attack us!"

"Exactly," Dr. Mario agreed. The other Smashers had to learn how to communicate with the Pokemon fighters when they first arrived, and thus, with years of practice, they were able to understand what they were saying… mostly. Mistranslations occurred occasionally, although with Mewtwo's and later Lucario's presence, translating became much easier.

All of a sudden, a weak moan came out of Mewtwo's mouth. His foot started twitching, and Roy, who came with Dr. Mario just in case something went wrong, leaned over him to get a closer look.

"He seems okay," he concluded.

"I don't a-think so." The doctor started to stroke his mustache. "Remember, I'm-a medical expert a-here."

 _I don't think so,_ the Aura Pokemon said silently in regards to his comment. Out loud, he said, "If I had a Heart Scale, I could teach myself Heal Pulse."

"A what?" the red-haired swordsman asked.

"A Heart Scale," Lucario replied. "It comes from Luvdisc."

"Luvdisc?"

"Another Pokemon. They don't have any here, last time I checked."

"Also, what's Heal Pulse?"

Lucario could almost slap Roy right now. He really was quite uneducated in terms of Pokemon knowledge. "It's a move I can learn. It heals Pokemon."

"Oh, okay," he said, giving a small nod.

Dr. Mario poked Mewtwo, causing him to stir some more.

"I think he's waking up," said Jigglypuff in the Pokemon language. Lucario picked her up. "What are you doing?"

"Just in case," he muttered to the Balloon Pokemon. "We all know how fragile you are."

"Hey!" She puffed her cheeks out, offended, and made a small sound.

"Let's take him back," Roy suggested, "before he wakes up."

"Right." The two humans gently picked up the Genetic Pokemon, and then they started to carry him back inside the Smash Mansion while the other two Pokemon present followed him. Lucario could feel Jigglypuff's aura in his paws, burning intensely as her passion for singing.

"I can always sing if he wakes back up!" Jigglypuff called to the duo.

"Or I can knock him out," Lucario smugly remarked.

Turquoise eyes glanced up at the canine creature. "That isn't nice."

A smirk came across his face. "Hey, it's an option."

As soon as the group got to the infirmary, the men immediately threw Mewtwo onto the hospital bed. He let out a grunt as his body slammed against the cold cushion. Dr. Mario went to grab masks while the others stood guard. When he came back, one already over his mouth and nose, he gave it to them.

"Why do we need these?" Lucario asked.

"We don't a-know what he a-has. It could a-be a deadly disease," the doctor replied, his voice muffled from the surgeon's mask. "And if it's a deadly a-disease, it could be-a transmitted a-through the air."

"He has a point," commented Roy as the swordsmen put it on. His sword was in its sheath at the moment, but it looked like he was ready to pull it out at any moment. "Though, if there was a priest, or at least someone with a staff, here, that bite would be gone in an instant…"

"We have Dark Pit's staff," the Balloon Pokemon said in regards to the red-haired boy's ramblings.

"Not that kind of staff!" the Aura Pokemon barked. "One that heals! Not hurts!" Roy nodded his head in confirmation.

"Enough, enough," demanded Dr. Mario. "Stop fighting and put your masks on."

Without any further complaints, they did so. The doctor had to help Jigglypuff with hers, since her small hands limited her ability to put on such accessories. Lucario pulled up a chair to sit in, and with the puffball still in his arms, he glanced down at the unconscious Pokemon. A little drool fell out of his mouth while Dr. Mario extracted his blood with a syringe.

"I'm taking this to the lab," he announced, holding up the vial of red liquid to showcase it. "You three better stay here, just in case."

"Will do," Lucario grumbled. He really wanted to fight right now, but instead, he was stuck here, babysitting Mewtwo.

Oh well, he better kill time.

"You know, Roy," Lucario started, "you were a douchebag last fanfiction. I expected some witty remark to come out of you."

"Well, the Robins and I have a little… rivalry," he replied.

"How so?"

"They stole my thunder with Arcfire. _I'm_ supposed to be the fire-wielding Fire Emblem character, not them!"

"You sound jealous," Jigglypuff pointed out.

"Am not!"

"Dude, your blade is just fiery. They actually _wield_ fire," Lucario snarled.

Roy groaned, and hunched over with a look of dismay. "Ugh, I can't deal with you two today…"

"Too bad you have to wait until Dr. Mario comes back," the Aura Pokemon grumbled, and slouched. The rest of the time they spent waiting was in silence, with the occasion moan from Mewtwo. Somehow, the bite on his foot had become even uglier, becoming a deep purple, with pus oozing out of the wound. The red-haired swordsman noticed this too, and his expression turned from annoyance to disgust.

"Eww…" Jigglypuff muttered under her breath. "That's gross."

Shortly thereafter, the mustached physician came back with the results. "We-a… might a-have a problem. The results came up with an unknown virus."

" _Unknown?!_ " Lucario blurted out in surprise. Quickly regaining his normal composure, he said, "Why, of course, that's helpful."

"Dr. Mario?" the pink Pokemon called, raising her hand. "Mewtwo's gotten worse…"

The human's blue eyes drifted over to the bite mark, and they quickly widened. "Oh no…"

"Well, what now?" Roy asked.

"The best thing I could a-do is to a-give him some medicine-a," he answered. "…Though, I-a would have to-a clean that a-wound up first. And a-bandage it."

"Do we have to stay in here longer?" Lucario grumbled. "I want to improve my skills."

"It would-a be for the best-a to a-stay," Dr. Mario started, "…but I think-a you could a-leave."

"Are you sure?" the red-haired teen asked warily. "What if something bad happened?"

"Don't a-worry, I'm a certified a-doctor," the doctor boasted.

"You know, I'm staying here, just in case," he cautioned.

"Well, you got Roy." Lucario stood up, and he took himself and Jigglypuff towards the door. "So, I'm leaving."

"And I'm staying." Jigglypuff deflated, allowing her to slip out of his arms, and she ran over to the red-haired swordsmen, jumping into his lap. He threw his arms out and straightened, surprised at the sudden decision. "I need to be here."

The Aura Pokemon's ears flattened ever-so-slightly. "Jigglypuff…"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine!" she assured. "I can hold my own!"

Without saying another word, Lucario gave one last look at his friend, and left to go to the training area.

 _Please, Arceus, let Mewtwo and Jigglypuff be alright._

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter took... much longer than I expected it to take. It was probably because I was focusing on other stories, but it's also due to once again,** **procrastination** **. Anyways, might as well get this chapter out before the year ends! I plan to upload chapter 3 tomorrow as well. I got Ultimate for Christmas, and I've been playing it almost non-stop over the past week. I have yet to finish World of Light, but I have unlocked all the characters. Regarding characters revealed since E3, I don't expect them to play a central role in the story (though who knows, maybe I'll throw a time-skip in there...). Anyways, Branchwing, out!**


	3. Chapter 3: Find a Friend

The next day, two familiar angels were playing a card game in the lobby.

"Have any threes?" Dark Pit asked his twin.

Squinting at the cards briefly, Pit soon shook his head. "Nope. Go fish."

Grumbling, the dark angel took a card from the pile, and added it to his hand. Now, it was Pit's turn. He looked at the cards he had. Lady Palutena had bought him a deck of fish-themed cards to hopefully help his counting skills by playing card games. He didn't really need it, but it was nice to know what the symbols for each number looked like. A thought came into his head. He only needed one more eleven, and he had his first book.

"Any elevens, Pittoo?" he asked, leaning back in the wooden chair.

"It's been six years, and you still call me that," he groaned as he pulled a card out of his hand, and handed it to Pit. "Here."

"Yes!" Grouping the elevens together, he placed the book of cards face up next to him on the pub table. "Your turn."

"Any aces?"

"Aces?" the white-winged angel perplexed, raising an eyebrow.

"The cards with one fish on them."

"Oh yeah! Them!" He pulled out two cards from his hand and gave them to Dark Pit. Then, his clone pulled out the other aces he had and laid them out in a book. It was his second book, now. He wasn't real happy that Pittoo was winning at the moment, but he still had to be a good sport.

"Now… any sixes?" Pit asked.

"Go fish," Dark Pit said bluntly. The angel took another card from a pile. A smile danced across his face as he saw the three fish on the card. The number the dark-winged one had asked for a little earlier.

"Let me guess, you have a three now," the dark angel groused, eyebrows lowering.

"How did you know?!" the brunette exclaimed.

"It's on your face, Pit-stain," Pittoo jeered. "What, did you think I wouldn't notice?"

"Oh, fine, fine, here's your three." Pit surrendered his first three over to the black-haired boy, and he smirked as he formed yet another book.

The two kept taking turns, taking cards off of one another and making books, when a certain blue-haired swordsman interrupted their game.

"Hey, have either of you two seen Roy?"

Blue and red eyes turned their attention onto Marth, the Hero-King. A look of worry was obvious on his face, deep blue eyes filled with concern.

"No," Pit replied. "I haven't seen him since the next tournament was announced."

"Me neither," Dark Pit agreed.

"Well, if you see him, tell me," Marth requested. "I'm getting a little worried. He usually shows up to spar with me, but not today."

"I can help you." The white angel immediately shot out of his chair, alarming the dark one.

"Wha- We still need to finish our game, Pit!" Pittoo protested.

"Later, Pittoo. This could be important! What if Roy went missing?" Pit argued.

"I don't want to think about that," Marth complained.

"Sorry, sorry. But either way, I still want to help!"

The blue-haired swordsman smiled. "Thank you, Pit."

"No problem! Anything to help a friend!"

Dark Pit leaned back in his chair and put his feet on the table. "Whatever. I'll be waiting for you to get back."

"Alright, then. See you later!" The two walked off as the brunette waved goodbye to his clone, and now, they were heading deeper into the Smash Mansion.

"Where did you last see him, Marth?" Pit asked.

"Yesterday morning. He was walking to the courtyard with Dr. Mario," the prince told him.

"Wait, _Dr._ Mario? Not just normal Mario?" Something must have gone wrong if the plumber was in his doctor's outfit.

"Yes, Dr. Mario. I don't know why," he confirmed.

"Well, then why don't we go look in the courtyard? Maybe someone has seen him there."

"…You're right, actually." Marth's cheeks started to glow red with embarrassment. "I don't know why I didn't think of that before."

"Then let's go!" Pit grabbed his friend's hand, causing him to yelp out in surprise. They ran to the entrance of the courtyard… only to find that it was boarded off.

"You have to be kidding me," the blue-haired swordsman muttered. He looked around. "There has to be someone here who can explain why." Almost immediately was his wish granted. Floating by was Master Hand himself.

"Oh, Master Hand, Master Hand!" Pit called. "Do you know why we can't go in the courtyard?"

The floating hand stopped, and turned around to face the duo. "Hello. Yes, I do know why, actually."

"Which is…?"

"Mewtwo was found unconscious there yesterday. Dr. Mario and a few companions took him into the infirmary, and since then… it's gotten worse," Master Hand explained. "Mewtwo has an unknown disease, and it's spreading."

"Is Roy alright?!" Marth immediately interrupted.

Silence was heavy in the air, and eventually, the hand gave out a great sigh. "I'm sorry to say this, Marth, but Roy… got infected."

The swordsman was speechless, but Pit had something to say. "Who else got infected?!"

"Jigglypuff got infected, too. I can show you the camera feed if you want proof."

"No, no, I believe you," the angel reassured. "It's just so weird though! Where did it come from?"

"I just said, Mewtwo was the original carrier of the disease," Master Hand clarified.

"No, like, _where_. Where did he catch it?"

"The courtyard, probably. Why, did you see him in the courtyard two nights ago?"

"Yeah, actually! He was just sitting on the fence."

"Hmm…" The floating hand started to act as if he was stroking an invisible beard. "The most probable explanation is that something from the Land of the Exiles bit him. After all, it was built near the border between here and there."

"You're saying you don't know?" Marth interrupted. "My friend is infected! You have to find out where it's coming from!"

"You know, Marth," Master Hand started, "that gives me an idea." Snapping his fingers, a familiar booth suddenly appeared next to the courtyard's entrance. It was made out of mahogany wood, and white letters spelling, 'The Detective Squad,' was written on the front of it.

"The Detective Squad's coming back?!" Pit exclaimed. Before the hand could answer, he added, "I have to go tell Robin and Lucario!" and ran off.

The first place Pit thought of was to check the Pokemon Daycare, where all of the Pokemon slept. As far as he knew, Lucario did not really like it there, but he had to for the sake of keeping order. The angel burst through the door, and looked around. Surrounded by sky-blue walls and a floor the color of grass, only Charizard was sleeping heavily in the center of the room. He sighed. Lucario was not here.

 _Time for the next best solution!_ The brunette walked up to the dragon, and yelled, "Charizard! Wake up!" Still snoring, the Pokemon rolled over, exposing its belly. "Charizard!" he shouted once more. When he did not wake up, Pit kneeled down next to him, and shouted his name once more.

This seems to have done the trick, as Charizard shot up and looked around frantically. When he noticed Pit in his presence instead of the Pokemon Trainer, he gave an unimpressed snort.

"Charizard?" he muttered. It translated to, "What do you want?"

"Do you know where Lucario is?" the angel asked. "I'm looking for him." The Flame Pokemon shook his head, and frustrated, Pit decided to try to find Robin instead. He thanked Charizard for the help and moved on.

The white-winged boy headed towards the hallway where all of the rooms for the Fire Emblem characters were located. When he reached the male Robin's room, he knocked on the door, calling his name. Thankfully, the tactician, who was not wearing his robe, opened the door and gave a half-hearted smile.

"Hey there," he greeted. "What brings you here?"

"Master Hand's forming the Detective Squad again!" Pit exclaimed, giving an excited grin.

Robin's eyes widened. "He is?!"

"Yeah! He brought back the booth and everything!"

"Why?!" the white-haired man cried. "I thought that ceased to exist after we found Mario."

"Well, we have another emergency, my good friend. Some kind of disease is spreading around the Smash Mansion."

He raised an eyebrow. "Can't he get Dr. Mario to do that?"

"The thing is, no one knows what it is." The brunette scratched his head. "I think it'll take a long time before we get a cure. So, in the meantime, we just have to find the source!"

He sighed. "If you say so. Let me put on clothes, though." Robin shut the door, and after a few minutes, he reopened it, wearing his robe. "Where's Lucario?"

"I don't know," Pit replied. "I asked Charizard; he doesn't know where he is either."

"Let's go look for him, then," Robin suggested.

"Exactly!" The angel started to run off.

"Hey, wait up!" the tactician called, running after him.

The two ran through the halls, looking in every nook and cranny for a sign of the blue canine. Everyone they asked said that they have not seen him. It was not until they found Fox that they got some sort of answer.

"Lucario?" Fox queried. "I thought I saw him head into the training room."

"Thank you!" called Robin as Pit speeded off towards the aforementioned room.

Once the duo had reached the training room, Pit immediately burst inside. It was currently selected on the Garden of Hope stage. Robin was a little more hesitant, waiting until signs of nothing bad happening were evident before stepping into the room. The angel looked around, and started to call the Pokemon's name. Though no answer came, they eventually found Lucario sitting on the pot, meditating.

Hesitantly, they approached the Aura Pokemon. "Lucario…?" the brunette asked. "Are you alright?" Still, he did not answer, causing his wings to droop a little bit.

"Please, Lucario, talk to us," the white-haired man prodded. "We're your friends, aren't we?"

He turned his head, a red eye focusing on the mage and the angel. " _I shouldn't have left them alone_ ," his voice suddenly projected in Pit's head.

"Woah, Lucario! Don't use your telepathy on me!" he cried. "Seriously, it's kind of creepy."

"Don't you talk with Palutena via telepathy normally?" Robin pointed out.

"Yeah, but that's normal! Lucario usually outright speaks to everyone," the white-winged angel argued.

"Let's get back on focus." Robin turned to Lucario. "Who are you talking about?"

"Roy and Jigglypuff," the Pokemon replied, now speaking. His ears drooped a little bit. "I could have protected them from getting bitten."

"Bitten?" he puzzled.

"Master Hand told me that Roy and Jigglypuff were infected with whatever Mewtwo has," Pit interrupted. Feeling bad for the Pokemon, he refocused his attention on him. "Did Master Hand already tell you?"

"I've known since last night," he said solemnly. "I was the first person Dr. Mario told when it started."

Robin dipped his head, and then said, "I'm sorry." A frown slivered onto his face. Pit had no doubt the same feelings of pity were going through his head as well.

"Anyways, Lucario, we came here to tell you something," the angel continued. "Master Hand is forming the Detective Squad again, and it won't be complete without you."

"Why?" The Aura Pokemon got up onto his feet, and jumped off the pot, to the ground. "What is the mystery here?"

"Where the heck this disease even came from," he replied. "In the process, we might find a cure as well."

The last sentence seemed to have gathered Lucario's interest, and he gave an eager nod. "If that's the case, then I'm in."

"Great!" the brunette cheered. "Let's go back to Master Hand, now."

The three ran out of the training room and back to the courtyard's entrance. The scene had not changed much, except that Marth was up against the wall with his back turned. Master Hand still floated, and when he noticed their arrival, he went up to them.

"I assume you have already figured this out," he started, "but I am giving you the task to figure out where this disease came from, and stop it before it is too late."

"Thanks for the reminder," Lucario muttered, regaining his usual composure.

"Now, onto to it!" Master Hand did a dramatic pose, pointing to the Detective Squad booth. The trio gathered behind it, and then the floating hand handed them a few papers. "This is the lab report, as well as a log of the events since Mewtwo was brought to the infirmary. All provided by Dr. Mario."

"Thank you," Robin thanked as he skimmed through the papers. "This will be immensely helpful." Though he did not want to admit it, they were not helpful at all for Pit, as he, despite Lady Palutena's efforts, still could not read. "…Though, you might want to bring Dr. Mario along." He chuckled. "We use magic to heal people in my world, not medicine."

Robin's wish was granted when Dr. Mario suddenly dashed into the area. He stopped at the sight of Master Hand, breathing heavily. Looking up at the white glove, he uttered a few terrifying words to the shock of everyone.

"The a-infected Smashers have-a broke out of the a-infirmary!"

* * *

 **A/N: Well, here's the next chapter! I feel like the ending was rushed a little bit, but nonetheless, it served its purpose. I don't have much comment on otherwise, so Branchwing, out!**


	4. Chapter 4: Panic

" _What?!_ " everyone except Marth cried out in unison. The Hero-King, on the other hand, simply turned around with widened eyes red from crying. In all honestly, the tactician was not all too thrilled that the Detective Squad to be reformed for medical purposes, but now, he started to see the usefulness in forming it again.

"How?!" Pit immediately added. "Don't you have the infirmary boarded up and all?!"

"That's what-a I a-thought," Dr. Mario replied. "I'm not-a too sure a-how they managed to get the a-door open."

Though Robin was freaking out internally, he had to keep his calm. "Could Mewtwo still have access to his psychic powers?" he pondered. "It might not be the case, but it is one way the door could have broken."

Lucario let out a cry of frustration. "Stop wondering how, we need to contain them before they bite anyone else!"

"Correct." With a snap of his fingers, several barricades appeared in Master Hand's grasp. "We might not be able to save everyone, but I have to save as many people as possible."

" _You_? Hold up, what about us?" the Aura Pokemon queried.

"None of you have the capability to block the infected Smashers' path," Master Hand replied.

"I could use my Arcfire to block their paths," the white-haired man offered. "They have to have enough sense not to walk into fire."

"Now, a-now, a-Robin. Let's not a-cause a fire," Dr. Mario commented. "The Smash a-Mansion is not very a-fireproof."

"Do you think my Guardian Orbitars would help at all?" Pit pondered. "Or maybe the Mirror Shield? The Three Sacred Treasures are lying around somewhere. Oh, oh, maybe I can ask Viridi for the Lightning Chariot! It showed me with that in the video; maybe I can ram into them!"

"None of those would help," Lucario argued.

"He's right," Robin added. "Your orbitars are a little too weak, your shield would still leave you vulnerable from behind, _and_ we don't want to kill anyone."

"Aw…" The angel threw his hands down before saying, "But still! I want to help!"

"I'm sorry, Pit," the man started, "but sometimes the best tactic is to retreat." If Master Hand truly believed that they would be unable to help, then he would not argue against it.

"What would we do, then?" the Pokemon asked, the question directed towards Master Hand.

"I need you to figure out what is going on," the floating hand instructed. "When I contain them, it is then you can investigate the infected Smashers further."

"It would be a-helpful if you could-a give us-a access to the-a security cameras-a," Dr. Mario requested.

"The room with all of them is located in a place only Crazy Hand and I can access," Master Hand explained. "Once I teleport you inside, you cannot leave until I come back. Is that fine with you?" Everyone except Pit agreed. The angel simply stayed silent. Robin assumed he still wanted to help, but he did not object to be teleported to the security room. Master Hand took his silence as a yes and then asked Marth, "Would you like to come too?"

Marth wiped the tears away from his eyes. "I guess I shall."

"If you say so." The floating hand snapped his fingers, and all of a sudden, everyone was in a dark room. The only source of light was a dim blue glow illuminating the edges of Master Hand's body. He moved out of the way, and Robin blinked, trying to get adjusted to the bright light. All over the back wall were a variety of screens, each depicting a room within the mansion. The tactician looked behind him. There was no door, though he was not surprised at the lack of one.

Robin walked up to the panel, marveling at the TVs. "Modern day technology is amazing," he muttered in a low voice. Back in his world, there was no such thing as a TV. The technology of Ylisse was primitive compared to the Smash Mansion's, and while most of the inhabits would simply be confused, the white-haired man was eager to learn how everything worked. It helped that he was a fast learner, so he picked up how to use such technology rather quickly.

"Impressive, huh?" the floating hand remarked. "On each television is a label marking what room it is in. There aren't cameras for the dormitories, but there are cameras for most other rooms."

"You realize I can't read, right?" Pit pointed out.

"But you're not blind," Lucario growled. "It's pretty obvious either way just by the location."

"But what about the hallways?" the angel whined. "I can't tell all of them apart."

"Relax, Pit," Dr. Mario assured. "We can-a read the labels-a for a-you."

"Thanks, Doc." The brunette walked up next to Robin, rubbing his chin. "I wonder where Pittoo is right now…"

"Up there, perhaps?" answered Lucario. The two looked up at one of the top screens, where the dark angel was found reading a book in the library.

"What about Roy?" Marth then asked. "Where is he at?"

"Hmm…" Robin's eyes darted from screen-to-screen until he found the red-haired swordsman lumbering about in the hallway near the dining hall. "He's not with Mewtwo, strangely enough."

"Already?!" Lucario exclaimed. "Damn, he's fast."

"Let me see." The blue-haired swordsman joined Robin and Pit, where the former pointed to the screen depicting him. Roy stopped, and headed towards the wall the camera was attached to.

"You can turn on the audio associated with that camera," Master Hand informed. "There's a button on the panel next to the camera name."

"Okay." The tactician searched for the button labeled HALL-DH-NW-02, and once he found it, he pressed it. Within an instant, a calm feminine voice spoke.

"Roy?" asked Rosalina. "Is something wrong?" Another camera showed the red-haired swordsman approaching the princess. He grabbed her by the waist, and she gasped. His mouth hovered over her neck for a few seconds, and then he bit it, causing her to cry out in pain. She teleported away within an instant, giving the Detective Squad no time to examine her bite.

"He bit her?!" Marth cried out in disbelief. "I didn't expect this disease to be this bad!"

"He's almost like a zombie," Pit added. "He even had his arms out like one!"

"No time for chit-chat," Lucario snapped. "We need to figure out where Rosalina went to."

"Rosalina?" another voice suddenly came from the recording. Robin glanced back at the cameras depicting the hallway Roy was in to see Peach running out of the dining hall.

"A-Peach?!" Dr. Mario gasped. "Oh, a-no! Get away from a-there, princess!"

The red-haired swordsman turned towards her, and she started to scream in terror. Another view of the hallway depicted him with a foaming mouth. It was then Robin noticed a pulsing bite that was oozing with pus on the underside of his arm. At that point, he had to look away.

"Hey, Master Hand, are you still there?" Robin asked.

"Yes, why?" responded the floating hand.

"Now would be a good time to put up barricades," he said frantically.

"Oh, yes, yes. I will go do that now."

"Wait!" Marth yelled, advancing towards Master Hand. "Take me to Roy!"

"Marth, you know he's dangerous," the white-haired man scolded, turning around to face him. "Do you want to get bitten?"

"I know." The blue-haired swordsman closed his eyes, grabbing the hilt of his sword. He took in a deep breath. "But I have to try," he said finally, opening his deep blue eyes.

"Are you sure about this?" the hand questioned. "You will probably not make it out of there alive."

"Yes! I've never been more sure in my life," he insisted. "Take me to Roy."

He sighed. "If you say so." With frowns on everyone's faces, they watched as the swordsman stepped next to the floating hand. He snapped his fingers, and within an instant, they were gone. Through the audio recording, Robin heard them reappear in the hallway near the dining room. Roy stumbled backwards, startled by their sudden appearance. However, he resumed his hostile demeanor shortly thereafter and headed towards Marth. Like he said he would, the blue-haired swordsman stood in his way, looking at him with a wary gaze.

"Marth?" another voice spoke. Robin recognized the voice as Samus's. In another view of the hallway, she could be seen stepping out of the dining hall in her zero suit. "What are you doing?"

"Stay back," Master Hand warned. "Roy is dangerous."

"Then why is he standing there?!" Samus pressed. "Does he know he's dangerous?"

"He does." The two looked over at Marth, who was clenching his teeth at this point. "It was what he wished."

The blonde looked over at the two swordsmen and simply dipped her head in respect. "I see." Without saying another word, the bounty hunter returned to the room she resided in before.

"Regardless…" A megaphone appeared in his hand, and he announced, "Attention, anyone displaying zombie-like behavior is to be avoided. If seen, please evacuate the area immediately and notify either me or Crazy Hand. This has been a public service announcement."

As to be expected, screams broke out within the mansion. Throughout all the cameras, the Smashers ran frantically around, collecting their belongings and disappearing in a flash. In the midst of the panic, some places had been abandoned, making the rooms look like a ghost town. Even Dark Pit looked up from his book, and upon hearing the announcement, he adjusted his laurel crown and started speaking.

"I have to hear this," muttered Pit, muting the feed of the hallway and turning on the audio recording of the library.

"…Teleport me back to your place," the dark angel said. "If there's zombies here, then I am not sticking around." He paused, and soon a displeased look came across his face. "Can't you just look around the place?" he demanded. "There has to be something somewhere." He folded his arms once he finished and later responded, "Ugh, fine. I'll stay." He started walking out of the library when he added, "But if I come to your sanctum braindead, don't say I didn't warn you." After that, Dark Pit finally remained silent and exited the library.

"I think he was talking to Viridi," the light angel explained. "He's been working with her for a few years now."

"Seems reasonable," Robin concluded. _At least he's not working for a bad guy._ Though he had never met the goddess, Pit's description of her depicted her in a rather neutral light. If anything, it was better than working for the S.W.E.T.

"Back to the task at hand," Lucario butted in. "We need to find Rosalina."

"Finding a-Mewtwo and a-Jigglypuff would be a-good idea a-too," Dr. Mario added.

The tactician scanned the cameras until he noticed the two Pokemon near the Training Room. "Found them," he said, pointing to the aforementioned camera. Mewtwo was holding the Balloon Pokemon under his holder, both of their mouths foaming like Roy. Jigglypuff in particular had a bloody arm.

"It seems that everyone we know that is infected has been bitten somewhere vulnerable," Robin deduced. "Mewtwo's tail was bitten, then Jigglypuff's arm, then Roy's arm, and finally, Rosalina's neck."

"Oh, good call, a-Robin," the doctor commented. "Perhaps a-PSAs to a-cover your-a-selves would a-help?"

"It would be inefficient for some fighters," the Aura Pokemon pointed out. "For example, the Pokemon. We can't exactly… put on clothes, per say." He rubbed the back of his head. "It's a little uncomfortable in my opinion."

"In that case, let's worry about that later," the white-haired man said. "We need to find Rosalina." Their eyes continued to scan the cameras.

"I don't see her," Pit noted. "Maybe she's in her room?"

"In that case, there's no way we can find her," Lucario grumbled, sitting down in a chair and leaning back.

"Let's-a look back at-a the a-footage," Dr. Mario suggested. "We cannot a-find Rosalina right a-now, but we can a-see what a-happened earlier."

"Alright." Robin pressed a rewind button, and within an instant, the security footage became a tape, with everyone retracing their steps rather quickly. At approximately the time Lucario was in the infirmary, the Aura Pokemon interfered and smacked the play button. From there, the footage began to play at a normal speed. He then turned on the audio recordings for all the infirmary cameras. After Lucario left the infirmary, Jigglypuff and Roy simply stared at Mewtwo.

Suddenly, the Genetic Pokemon's leg twitched ever so slightly. "Huh?" Roy muttered, the sound amplified by the numerous audio feeds on.

"Jiggly…!" Jigglypuff then gasped, which translated into, "He moved…!"

All of a sudden, Mewtwo raised his arm, which came crashing down on the Balloon Pokemon. She let out a gasp, flattening to try to avoid him. However, his hand remained on her. Grabbing the tuft of hair on her forehead, he swung her over to his bed, where his eyes suddenly opened. With bloodshot eyes, he let out a groan and opened his drooling mouth. Jigglypuff let out a cry as her arm was pulled towards it.

"Mewtwo, stop!" Roy commanded, pulling his sword of his hilt and pointing it towards the Pokemon. The Genetic Pokemon bit down into the Balloon Pokemon's flesh, causing her to cry out even more. Soon, her screams stopped, and she dropped to the floor unconscious. Putting Jigglypuff under his shoulder, he rose from his bed and grabbed the swordsman's sword with his free hand. Mewtwo ripped it out of his hands and threw it across the room. "My sword!" the red-haired man cry, leaping past him.

Mewtwo then grabbed his cape, causing him to crash to the floor. He set Jigglypuff down and started pulling his back to him. The saliva from his mouth rolled down his chin and dripped down on Roy's cape.

"Not my cape!" the red-haired swordsman then cried. The Pokemon then put his foot on his back, causing him to wince a little bit. He kicked him over so his belly would face the sky. Mewtwo grabbed his arm and bit into it, causing him to scream until he was knocked unconscious. Now, he was alone in the room with the bodies, blood dripping from his mouth.

"I think I'm going to be sick…" Pit murmured, looking away from the screens.

"Yeah, I don't know much more of this I can take," Robin agreed.

Mewtwo started to slam into the door in an attempt to bust it open. A little while later, Dr. Mario passed by the door leading into the room Mewtwo and the others were in. He stopped upon hearing the sound and peered into it.

"Mamma mia!" the doctor suddenly cried out. "This is a-worse than I a-thought!" He ran into a closet and came out with some boards and a hammer. He hammered the planks of wood to the door and ran towards the entrance of the infirmary. He looked around and saw Ryu walking down the hallway. "Ryu! I have a-something for a-you to a-do."

"Which is…?" the man asked, tightening his headband.

"Can you a-look after the a-infirmary while I'm a-gone?" Dr. Mario requested. "I a-have to do a-something real a-quick."

"Sure." Ryu started walking into the infirmary.

"A-thank you," he thanked, and then he ran off.

"I just a-went to a-talk to Lucario-a," the present-day Dr. Mario clarified. "You can-a skip this a-part."

"What if something happened while Ryu was in there?!" Pit argued, a little panicked. "He could have accidently let out the infected Smashers during that time!"

"I was only out-a of there for-a about twenty a-minutes," the doctor pointed out. "When I a-got back, they were-a still in the a-infirmary."

"And you guys don't want to hear me sob, either." Lucario then pressed the fast-forward button, garbling any sound coming from the infirmary for a few brief seconds. After he put it on normal speed again, Dr. Mario walked into the infirmary, thanked Ryu, and got back to work. Back in the room Mewtwo and the others were in, the former was still trying to bust the door open while Roy and Jigglypuff lie unconscious.

"There's still nothing interesting," Robin said. He pressed the fast-forward button again and continued to play it until he noticed the two fallen Smashers start to move. Eyes widening, he pressed the play button, and he started to watch the scene unfold.

Jigglypuff was the first to wake up, letting out a soft groan as she regained conscious. Like with Mewtwo, drool seeped out of her mouth, and the whites of her eyes were blood red. She waddled over to the edge of the bed and fell over. Noticing this, the Genetic Pokemon picked her up and continued to slam into the door. Soon, Roy rose, throwing his arms out in front of him. His head limped sideways, and he made loud, audible groans. The swordsman ran into the door, and soon, with the combined strength of Mewtwo and Roy, the door burst open. Wood chunks flew all over the place as the boards were ripped in half, with Dr. Mario covered his face. He parted a finger to see what happened, and then he gasped. Grabbing nothing, the doctor dashed out of the infirmary.

Outside the infirmary was the Villager. He stood there, confused, as Dr. Mario ran out of the infirmary, leaving the door open. Curious, he peered into the door, only to see the infected Smashers walking towards the door with arms outstretched. Terror crossed his face, and he got out an axe. With silence, Villager backed up, watching as they walked out. Roy's sapphire eyes immediately caught sight of him, and the red-haired man leaped at him. The axe was knocked out of the Villager's hands, and he waved his arms around in terror as Roy pinned him down and leaned towards him. He bit into his neck, and once Villager stopped struggling, he got up to his feet and continued walking. At this point, Mewtwo and Jigglypuff were already gone.

"Well, that explains how they got out," Robin remarked.

"But what about… how did Mewtwo get bitten in the first place?" Pit spoke up.

"Let's a-go back to the a-present now," Dr. Mario suggested. "If a-Villager got a-bit, then he could-a infect a-more Smashers."

"In Lady Palutena's name, you're right!" the angel realized. He pressed a button that reset all the cameras to the present and turned off the infirmary audio feeds. Static garbled the screens for a little bit, but once it cleared up, it was absolute chaos.

The word that there was a sickness running around spread, and many Smashers were running around in circles, panicking on what to do. In front of the infirmary, Villager had just risen to his feet, an unsettling smile on his face as he threw out his arms and started walking in the direction of the dining room. On the other hand, Roy was actually in the dining room now, launching onto Captain Falcon. Robin turned on the audio feed for that room.

"Seriously?!" the bounty hunter cried. "Get off of me!" He slapped Roy in the face, which obviously did not work. The swordsman grabbed his helmet and pulled it off him, revealing brown hair underneath. "Hey! Give that back!" Roy threw the helmet to the side and gave a quick bite to Captain Falcon's neck. "Ooh… That… hurt…" He fell to the ground shortly thereafter.

"He got Captain Falcon!" Ness screamed, dropping his baseball. " _Run_!"

Though the room was mostly evacuated, everyone still in the room immediately ran out of the dining room, knocking chairs and what-not in order to reach safety. Screams filled the air, even from outside the hall.

Back in the halls leading to the Training Room, Mewtwo had let Jigglypuff loose, and now she was on top of Falco. He tried swatting her off of him, but soon, she bit his head, causing the peasant to drop to the ground and grip his head. He clenched his eyes shut, teeth gritted, but a few minutes later, his jaw fell open and his body fell over. Now, Falco was unconscious. Fox, who was watching as Mewtwo pinned him to the wall, started to scream at the sight of his fallen friend. The Genetic Pokemon bit into his neck once Falco fell, and soon, Fox's cries died out.

"Oh, no, no, no…" Pit muttered.

 _It's getting worse,_ Robin thought in awe at the amount of Smashers the three had managed to infect in a short period of time.

"We can't just sit here and watch," Lucario said, clenching a fist. "We have to find out where it came from." Without any other words, he pressed the rewind button, and the screen went backwards in time, pretending like none of this chaos had ever happened.

* * *

 **A/N: At last! Chapter 4 is here! I really like how this chapter came out, which makes up for the long time it took for me to post this. So, before we go more in-depth with this, how do you guys think Mewtwo was initially bitten? I feel like it's a little more obvious than the original, but I would still like to hear guesses. Hopefully, chapter 5 should come out very soon, but either way, Branchwing, out!**


	5. Chapter 5: Baseball Tricks

While the security cameras rewinded, static suddenly appeared on the screens of the cameras outside the mansion. _That's not right…_

"Woah, what?!" Pit exclaimed, taken aback.

"Strange…" Robin breathed. "Here, let's go forward until the static is gone." He pressed the fast-forward button, stopping when the static disappeared. On one of the screen was the face of R.O.B., staring into the camera. The robot backed up and stared into it before moving past it. Static was still on a few of the screens. Other cameras showed the cameras said screens were connected to as being damaged.

"They broke?" Lucario commented. "How did they break?"

"The only way to find out is to go even further back in time." Robin pressed the rewind button once more, stopping when some of the screens displayed the Koopalings standing outside the fence surrounding the courtyard. Ludwig was holding the baseball bat used in the Home Run Contest, while Morton held a baseball. The tactician turned on the audio feed.

"I bet _I_ could take out the most cameras with one baseball!" Larry bragged, putting his hands on his hips.

"No, me!" Iggy fired back. "I can hit more cameras than you!"

"I can hit the most cameras!" Lemmy argued.

"Now, now," Ludwig spoke up, pounding the baseball bat into his fist. "I have the bat, so I go first." He turned to Morton. "Give me the ball."

"Okay." The black-shelled Koopaling handed over his ball, and the blue-shelled one threw it into the air and, with immense strength, swung the baseball bat. The ball flew, going right through several cameras. The broken cameras were marked with static suddenly appearing the screens in the room. Lucario counted seven cameras. The last camera the ball hit simply deflected it.

Roy Koopa counted the cameras and announced, "Seven!"

"Me next!" Iggy hopped over the Ludwig and swiped the baseball bat off of him. Roy came back with the ball in his hands. The yellow-green-shelled koopa snagged it and ran down to the last broken camera. He threw the ball into the air and swung the bat, sending it flying. Two more cameras went down.

"Now me!" declared Larry. Iggy dropped the bat, allowing him to pick it up.

Before he could grab the ball and swing it, Ludwig said, "We're getting pretty close to the front now. We'd be caught if we go any further."

"To the back?" Morton asked.

"Yes." The blue-shelled koopa waved his wand and announced, "Follow me!" The Koopalings marched on to the back of the Smash Mansion, past where Mewtwo was sitting. He did not notice them, interestingly.

"Now, it's your turn," Roy said to Larry. He threw him the ball, and the latter gave a smirk. Iggy ran over to the Koopa Clown Car nearby and activated it, making it hold up a board for the baseball to bounce off of. Larry threw the ball into the air and swung the baseball bat with all of his might, sending the ball flying. It smashed through the remaining cameras, roughly four of them, bounced off the board, and shot through a camera on the backside of the mansion walls, knocking a total of five cameras down.

"Five," Roy announced.

" _Five_?!" Larry cried. "That's not nearly enough to win!"

"Well, you did get more than Iggy," Ludwig pointed out. "…Which is something."

"Hey!" Iggy snapped. "I just had a bad throw!"

"Anyways, I'm going next!" Lemmy snatched the bat from Larry and then took the ball from the ground. He ran back to the rest of the Koopalings and proceeded to bat. Only one camera was destroyed. "…Aw, man." He threw the bat to the ground and crossed his arms.

"Hmph," grumbled Wendy. "I bet that _I_ can do better than the rest of you." She picked up the baseball bat and threw the ball up into the air before swinging it. The baseball shot through three cameras and caused a fourth one to be dented. "…Or not! That was terrible!"

"Still better than me," Iggy muttered.

"Since you went, I'm going next." Roy took the baseball bat from Wendy and proceeded to do the same thing as the other Koopalings. He managed to knock out nine cameras, which was impressive to everyone.

"Wow!" Lemmy exclaimed. "I wanna be as strong as you someday, Roy!"

The purple-shelled koopa gave out a boisterous laugh. "Ha! Maybe you will be, maybe you won't."

"I'm the only one left," Morton spoke up. He was the next to take the baseball bat. "Saved the best for last, huh?" Since the Koopalings were at the west end of the mansion by now, Iggy had driven the Koopa Clown Car over to them and put up the reflecting board again. Roy gave the dark-shelled koopa the ball, and he threw it into the air and swung the bat. Immediately the ball went flying, knocking out the remaining cameras on the back wall and even piercing through some of the west wall cameras.

" _Twelve cameras_?!" Roy exclaimed, clearly in awe. "That's a lot!"

"Told you I was the best!" Morton boasted, giving out a hearty laugh.

"In that case, Morton wins!" Ludwig announced.

"Master Bowser's going to be so proud of us!" Larry cheered.

"Alright, I've had enough of them," Lucario growled. He pressed the fast-forward button once more and let everything continue on until they got to the present, where the footage returned to a normal play speed.

"So, we still don't know how Mewtwo got bitten in the first place," Robin concluded. "Great…"

"Well, not all hope is lost," Pit pointed out. "We could go searching outside the fence. Whatever bit him can't come from the Smash Mansion."

"But past the courtyard is the Land of the Exiles," Lucario argued. "We don't know what's up with that place in recent days."

"I think we should try to find the Koopalings, first," the white-haired tactician suggested. "Perhaps they have an idea of what happened?"

"Well, let's look at the cameras." The Pokemon scanned the screens, but the Koopalings, as well as Bowser Jr., were nowhere to be found. However, he did find the King of the Koopas arguing with Master Hand near the Detective Squad stand. Lucario decided to turn on the audio feed for that room.

"…Let me leave, Master Hand," Bowser demanded. "There are zombies around here, and I cannot afford to stick around, especially with my son here as well!"

"Your son is in his room, yes?" Master Hand inquired.

"Yes, why?"

"Well, getting him out of there now leaves him at risk of being bitten by one of the diseased Smashers. Unless you want to leave him behind—"

"What? No! I wouldn't do that!"

"Then I'm sorry, Bowser. You have to stay here until everything is dealt with."

"Seriously?!" he roared, a stream of fire coming out of his mouth. The floating hand cringed away from it, surprised by the sudden outburst. "I am the King of the Koopas, I—" He stopped when Master Hand snapped his fingers, teleporting away. "Huh? Where did you go?!" Lucario turned off the audio feed after this.

However, he felt a new presence in the room. He turned around to see Master Hand, standing right behind him. He nudged the other Smashers in the room, causing them to turn around.

"Oh! A-Master Hand!" Dr. Mario exclaimed. "What a-surprise to see you a-here!"

"Well, I was going to come here anyways," the floating hand started, "but now's better than never. So, have you found out anything yet?"

"Well, because the Koopalings knocked out the cameras yesterday, we could not see what happened to Mewtwo," Robin explained. "But, it seems more likely than ever that he was bitten by something from the Land of the Exiles."

"Unfortunate," Master Hand commented. "Anything else?"

"We did figure out how exactly Mewtwo and the others were able to escape the infirmary," Lucario said. "Once Roy woke up after being bitten, Mewtwo and Roy used their combined strength to break out of it."

"And they bit the Villager, too!" Pit cried. "That's horrible!"

"Has-a anyone else been a-bitten?" Dr. Mario asked.

"Not that I know of," the floating hand admitted. "I was too busy putting up the barricades that I couldn't pay attention to what was happening elsewise."

"Crazy Hand wasn't helping you?" Lucario queried. _I mean, it wouldn't be too terribly out of character for him, but it still seems odd_.

"He wasn't," Master Hand confirmed. "I haven't seen him since the announcement, actually. But, I bet he's just searching for the Exiles."

"It's still weird, though," the Aura Pokemon pointed out. "He probably does know about this, and he understands that we need to be safe in order to be the best Smashers we can possibly be."

The hand did not respond to this, then saying, "…I think you've had enough time in here. You did everything you could, to no avail. It's time for the field work, then."

"Wait, you didn't answer my question!" Lucario complained before all four Smashers were teleported out of the room. They were in front of the gates leading to the arenas again, right where Bowser was previously. He had left, scorching the tile around him, but the Detective Squad stand still stood.

"And that," Pit stated, "was even weirder."

* * *

 **A/N: Hey, another chapter! And it only took me almost three weeks this time to get this one out! It's also fairly short compared to the other chapters, so I'm sorry about that. Though I don't like how this chapter particularly came out, I hope you all enjoy it! Chapter 6 is already started, though I'm not sure when that one will come out. Stay tuned, and Branchwing, out!**


	6. Chapter 6: Dodging Bullets

Dark Pit stood with his back against his bedroom door, sweating as Rosalina slammed into it. _Thank the gods she can't use her powers_ , he thought as the force reverberated through his wings. If he even left the door alone, the princess could bust in and bite him. And that would be the end for him.

He had to think of something, and fast. He cannot keep holding the door shut forever, but he would also need a weapon to defend himself with. However, that was not the main problem. His main problem was getting through Rosalina without killing her. From what he had seen, the infected Smashers pose quite a great threat, with great strength and their habit to catch others off guard. Thus, it would be hard to subdue her effectively. He thought about waiting it out, but Rosalina seemed pretty set on her target. He also thought about turning her into a trophy, but he was not sure if that was possible.

Dark Pit looked at his fist and squeezed it tighter. If he could knock out Rosalina, then he would be safe. It was risky just using his body, but it was a risk he was willing to take. The angel relaxed and turned to face the door. He opened the door and immediately kicked the dress-wearing princess. She let out a pained cry and fell to the floor. Not even thinking about what he was doing, he ran across the room and grabbed his Silver Bow and his staff. He leaped over Rosalina and started running through the hallways. He put the bow behind his back, keeping the staff out.

 _This should be effective for knocking Smashers out,_ Dark Pit thought. He usually just shot out a beam from his staff, but it was too effective for killing. There is a reason it is his Final Smash, after all. As he ran, another infected Smasher jumped out at him, causing him to crash into them. The two fell to the floor, and Dark Pit rolled over them almost immediately after. Now, he heard a raspy roar in the distance, along with heavy stomping. He looked over his shoulder to see Charizard, breathing out only slithers of fire. He had a bite mark on his neck. The Pokemon started to lumber over to him, though the angel was still faster.

 _I need to find Pit,_ he thought. _He has to still be standing. He has to!_ Dark Pit continued to dash through the long, winding hallways of the dormitories, staff still in hand. Suddenly, he saw the Villager riding the Lloid Rocket, though the short man did not look great. On his neck was a pulsing bite, with a little blood trickling down it. His hair was unusually messy, and he had an unsettling smile on his face.

" _Help_!" Lloid screamed as Villager steered him. "He's gone crazy!" It was then that the angel realized that the rocket was directed towards him.

"Sorry," Dark Pit muttered, throwing out his staff. He pressed the trigger, and the beam released shot through the Lloid Rocket, destroying it and causing Villager to fall face-first on the ground. The explosion seemed to have rendered him unconscious. The black-winged angel ran past him and continued his escape.

Dark Pit's next obstacle was a blockade of Koopa Clown Carts, right in the section where the Koopalings' rooms are located. He peered into a yellow-rimmed one to see an unconscious Lemmy. Horror flashed across his face when he saw a bite mark on his arm. _Shit_. He counted the carts present in the hallway. There was seven, one for each Koopaling. If any of them woke up, then it would be the end for him.

Suddenly, he got an idea. "Hey, Viridi?" he asked, adjusting his laurel crown.

 _"Yes?"_ replied a high-pitched voice.

"Can you give me the Power of Flight for a few seconds?"

 _"The Power of Flight? Can't you just jump over them?"_ Viridi argued. _"Or walk over them?"_

"Hmm…" He examined the blockade for a few seconds. Each cart was rather big, with the hallway barely being able to fit two right next to each other. They were clustered together. "I don't think I can jump far enough. Besides, I could wake them up if I try walking over them."

 _"Ugh, fine."_ Dark Pit felt himself lift into the air, his wings glowing a green color. Staying close to the ceiling, he flew over the Koopa Clown Carts, seeing the unconscious bodies of all the Koopalings as well. Even after he past them, he was still in the air.

"Viridi? What are you doing?" the angel growled, annoyed.

 _"There's a barricade up ahead,"_ she informed him. _"It's too high for you to jump."_

"So, what? I can climb over it," Dark Pit argued.

 _"It's smooth. The gap isn't that big, either. You have to be flying over it."_

"Seriously?!" He groaned as Viridi continued to fly him through the hallways. Soon, he saw a tall, bright red barrier at the end of the hallway. Like the goddess had described, it was smooth, but it also became thinner as it sloped upwards. There was a small gap just big enough for him to squeeze through if his wings hugged the ceiling. Without either celestial being saying another word, Dark Pit slipped through the barricade, landing on the other side.

 _"No need for me anymore,"_ the goddess said. _"You're welcome."_

"…Thanks," he grumbled, and then the voice in his head was gone. Staff still in hand, Dark Pit continued walking. He took a moment to look around, assessing his current location. He was out of the dormitories, and if he was correct, this hallway led to the main lobby. He smiled. He ought to find someone there. Dark Pit started walking, believing he was in no danger at the moment.

Like he expected, there was someone there. Pit, Lucario, Robin, and Dr. Mario were at the Detective Squad stand, reading some papers.

Pit lifted his head. "Oh, hey Pittoo!"

Dark Pit sighed upon hearing his nickname, but he greeted, "Hey," and walked over to them. "Is Dr. Mario an honorary member now?"

"I'm not-a official member-a," the doctor clarified. "I'm just a-helping them."

"Eh, same thing." The dark angel shrugged.

"What brings you here?" Robin asked.

"I just had to get out of there," he replied, grimacing. "Too many zombies."

"Infected Smashers, you mean," Lucario interrupted.

"Yeah, that."

"How'd you get past the barricade?" Pit asked.

"Power of Flight, simple as that."

"If you want, you can help us," Robin offered. "We haven't been getting anywhere."

Dark Pit paused to think, and then answered, "Just tell me what you have so far."

* * *

 **A/N: You know I just had to include a Dark Pit chapter. How useful will he be to the Detective Squad? Well, you'll find out in later! I'm actually pretty fine with this chapter being rather short, since it mainly just focuses on how he is dealing with the infected Smashers. Stay tuned for the next chapter, and Branchwing, out!**


	7. Chapter 7: Unhelpful Advice

After explaining what the Detective Squad has found out about the infected Smashers since they reformed, Dark Pit simply nodded and started to stroke his chin.

"Try going into the Land of the Exiles again," the angel suggested. "That's the only way you're going to get anywhere."

"The Land of the Exiles?!" Pit cried. He did not like that idea at all.

"Have you forgotten how dangerous it is?!" Lucario snapped.

"Yeah, I almost a-died there," Dr. Mario agreed.

"It's not a bad idea, actually," Robin pointed out. "We know that the source of this disease has to come from there, so it wouldn't help investigating. However… we need Robyn."

"Where is Robyn, anyways?" Pit asked. Considering that Robin was more known than his female counterpart, Robyn enjoyed a life of relative solitude, often being found at the library.

"I doubt she's in the library right now," the tactician assumed. "If she noticed people fleeing the library, then she should have figured out that something's wrong."

"I'll try searching for her aura," Lucario offered. He closed his eyes and waved his arms around, blue energy crackling from the tips of his paws. When he opened his eyes, he said, "Follow me," and ran straight ahead, towards the entrance of the mansion.

"Where are we going?" asked the white-winged angel once they caught up with him.

"I sensed Robyn in the game room," the Aura Pokemon replied.

"Why would she be in the game room?" Pittoo asked, bewildered. "Does she even like games?"

"I like chess," Robin pointed out. "And other board games, too."

"Hmph. I guess you have a point," he grumbled.

Soon, they came across the game room, though there was a notable hole in the door. Lucario kicked the door opened, and the group was met with the sight of Robyn, holding off several Spinies. Using Elwind, she blasted several of them up against the wall, but they were resilient, and they quickly got back up to lumber back to the female tactician. A Lakitu hovered on a cloud, occasionally throwing a new Spiny down into the game room.

Robyn soon noticed the newcomers and gasped. "You have to help me!"

"What happened?!" Pit asked.

"I think," she started, pausing to slice a Spiny open, "Lakitu got bitten by one of the diseased Smashers, and now he's attacking me." The angel looked for a bite mark on the koopa, quickly finding one on his tail.

"You haven't thought to take out the Lakitu?" Robin asked.

"That cloud is fast, you know," she pointed out. "Besides, with each passing second, there's more and more Spinies attacking me, and I can't hold them off however."

"Then…" The white-haired man looked up at the koopa and took out his tomb. "Keep doing what you're doing, I'll take it out." Holding it up, a light started shining from it as it charged up.

Pit got out his Palutena Bow and split it into two blades. "I'll help you out." He swiped at a Spiny's feet, knocking it over. He took its moment of vulnerability to decapitate it, and then he slammed the blade into a few approaching Spinies, sending them into the wall again.

"Strange," Lucario muttered, kicking a Spiny. "They're not infected, even though the Lakitu is."

" _What_?!" Pit cried. "That's horrible! They're just… following his orders without care!"

"They're a-minions," Dr. Mario pointed out, chucking a pill at one's face. "What do you-a expect?"

"He's right," Dark Pit agreed. "Minions are minions, it's as simple as that."

 _Well, I'm not killing another one, then,_ Pit decided silently. For now, he would focus on keeping them away from the Robins.

"Thoron!" the male tactician exclaimed suddenly. Turning around, the brunette saw Robin unleashing a powerful beam from his tome, aimed directly at the Lakitu. He screamed as the cloud dissipated and he fell to the ground. When the lightning magic faded, only Lakitu could be seen on the ground, unconscious. The Spinies, now without a master, started to scatter. Their goals were no longer set on attacking the Detective Squad, it seemed.

"Thank you for the help," Robyn thanked, walking up to her male counterpart. "I would have been done for if you didn't show up."

"I'm glad I was able to help," Robin said, nodding. "Though, we didn't exactly come to help you…"

"You see, the Detective Squad was formed again!" Pit chimed in.

"Yeah, and we need your help," Lucario concluded.

Taking the information in, the white-haired woman nodded and asked, "What can I help you with?"

"I suggested we go into the Land of the Exiles," Dark Pit started, now pointing at the rest of the Detective Squad, "but they said we have to get you first."

"The Land of the Exiles, huh?" She put a hand in her hair. "I guess I could come along. It would make us stronger, after all."

"And two tacticians are better than one," Pit added.

"Right," Robin agreed. "But, there's one anomaly in this whole thing."

"Which is…?" Robyn trailed off, puzzled.

"When we mentioned that it seemed strange that Crazy Hand wasn't helping Master Hand, the latter just dodged the question and teleported us back to the lobby," Lucario explained. "I'm worried both of them have a role in this somehow."

"We haven't a-seen Master Hand-a since," Dr. Mario noted. "I a-trust Master Hand, but it's a-odd."

Robyn nodded. "It is," she agreed. "I think we'll have to find Crazy Hand if we want answers."

 _Crazy Hand?!_ "Why?" Pit suddenly burst out, surprised.

"Think about it, Pit. He already causes a lot of chaos for us. Who isn't to say that this disease isn't another one of his creations?"

"It spread to Mewtwo the night of the announcement," the Aura Pokemon pointed out. "I don't think he can just think of something and give it to one of the Smashers right after the hands announced the next game."

"He could have created it before the announcement," the white-haired tactician argued. "We don't know how long this disease has been around, after all."

"I'll have to-a agree with the a-Robins," Dr. Mario commented. "I've never seen this a-disease before a-now. It wouldn't be-a too out-of-character-a for Crazy Hand-a to a-do this."

"Are we still going to the Land of the Exiles?" Dark Pit asked. "He's probably there."

"If Master Hand thinks Crazy Hand is there, then we are," the brunette replied. "Maybe we'll run into Master Hand there, too."

"And could we ask him some questions?" Robyn then interjected.

"I already told you what happened last time we brought up Crazy Hand," Lucario snapped. "Master Hand disappeared; he probably won't answer our questions."

"Then who's to say Crazy Hand will?" Pittoo sneered. "He's much more unpredictable."

"Can we stop arguing?" Robin interrupted. "We'll get nowhere if we keep doing this, and we already settled on going to the Land of the Exiles. We can't waste anymore time; more Smashers will get infected if we don't act fast."

"He's right," Pit agreed. "Let's go."

Everyone nodded and ran towards the entrance of the Smash Mansion. With some effort, they managed to get out of the building and soon left the premises. Soon arriving at the entrance to the Land of the Exiles, everyone looked at each other with determined glances and nodded.

"Ready?" Robin asked.

"Ready," everyone replied. Together, they took their first step into the desert wasteland, and now they begin their journey.

* * *

 **A/N: Hello! I'm back with another chapter for you! My original intention was for this to come out on the anniversary of this fanfiction, but alas, that was not the case. It's here now, though! Things will only get more intense from here! What will happen next? Find out... soon. Regardless, my goal now is to finish this before the end of the year. Stay tuned, and Branchwing, out!**


	8. Chapter 8: Desert Investigation

Immediately, the sun was scorching on their backs. Robin felt the sweat drip down his skin as he walked through the Land of the Exiles, searching for any clues regarding the mysterious disease rampaging through the Smash Mansion. His brown eyes searched the horizon for some signs, but alas, nothing appeared. He frowned. _What an unproductive trip._ They have not even come across any monsters, much less any of the Exiles.

Suddenly, he heard something rustle in the distance. Everyone drew their weapons, huddling around each other with backs turned. When Robin saw that it was simply a tumbleweed, blowing in the wind, he relaxed, and so did everyone else. He put his Levin Sword back in its scabbard and sighed.

"This is getting us nowhere!" Dark Pit cried, exasperated. "Why don't we split up?"

"We'll get lost if we do," Lucario pointed out. "And we might never find each other again."

The tactician shivered at the thought of never seeing his friends again. It was not a reality he wanted to live in. Nonetheless, no one said anything else on the matter, and the group continued walking deeper into the desert. With not a single word uttered, Robin soon found himself bored. Since venturing into here, all he has been doing was keeping his eyes peeled and his ears opened for any signs of life. Though he is a tactician, he was not too keen on spending the entire day planning his team's next move.

"There's nothing here…" Pit whined. "And I'm hungry, too."

"Oh, shut up," Pittoo growled. "Just tough it out; we're immortal, anyways."

"I mean, you could have ate before we left," Robyn pointed out, her voice brimming with warmth.

"Alright, I'll admit it was my fault for eating nothing. But getting to the bottom of this is more important," the angel then confessed.

"Right," Robin agreed. "Look, I'm starving, too, but Pit does have a point. We have to find the source before it's too late."

After some more walking, Lucario suddenly stopped, and his ears twitched, as if he sensed something. Everyone stopped as well and watched as the Aura Pokemon examined the area, taking a few steps to the side. His red gaze implied to the Detective Squad that they should start walking left, but there was no confirmation.

"Huh? What is it?" the white-haired man asked.

"I sensed an aura in the distance…" he muttered, his ears then flattening. "But… something is very wrong with it. It reminds me of the aura of the infected Smashers, but at the same time, it's very different from theirs."

"Could you-a elaborate?" Dr. Mario requested.

"Aura is a complicated thing for other creatures to understand," he started. "Everyone has a different aura, though some are more similar than others. They're generally… free flowing, swirling around the person. But the aura I sense right now… it feels dark and twisted. Like it has a chokehold on someone. But at the same time, it is desperate and fleeting, like the aura of a dying man."

"Interesting," the male tactician mused. "Shall we investigate? It's the only lead we have."

"I don't think this well end well," Lucario replied, "but we might as well."

"Anything-a to stop this-a disease," the doctor added.

"And the faster we find it, the faster we cure it!" Pit declared.

"Then it's settled." Robyn turned to look at the Pokemon. "Lucario, lead the way."

He simply let out a grunt in response and started walking towards the source of the aura. For miles, they walked once more, and soon Robin began to question if the aura was simply a mirage or not. He dared not to speak up of the matter, for he feared saying something would make them lost once more. A distraction was something they could not afford at this point.

"Wait, guys, do you see that?" the white-winged angel suddenly spoke. He pointed towards the middle of nowhere. "An oasis! There's water here!"

"What are you talking about, Pit-stain?" Dark Pit then scoffed. "There's nothing there!"

"No, you're just denying it," Pit protested. He started running over to a spot in front of them and dropped to his knees.

"Uh… a-Pit?" Dr. Mario tried to get his attention. "I think a-Dark Pit's right-a."

"Yeah, you're seeing a mirage," Robyn agreed. "It's not uncommon to get one in places like the Land of the Exiles."

Nonetheless, the brunette proceeded to lick the ground, only to end up coughing and sticking his tongue out in disgust. "Bleh… that's not water." He shook his head, and then he asked, "Hey, where'd the plants and stuff go?"

"Told ya," the raven-haired boy jeered quietly.

"Let's just keep going," the white-haired woman then decided. The group continued walking endlessly throughout the desert, with no end in sight. Robin could only trust Lucario now, who still seemed set on the distant aura he sensed.

Their trek gave the tactician to think. What would happen if they never found a cure? He heard rumors that Master Hand could snap his fingers and make everything better if needed. Though it was practical, he supposed it was meant as a last resort, only be used when the situation becomes dire. On the other hand, they could get infected or worse, die, out here, leaving them unable to get the cure. If nothing could be done about it, then the next tournament would be doomed.

Lucario suddenly stopped and looked over his shoulder. "I sense someone running towards us."

Squinting, Robin could just barely make out a green-clad figure in the distance. _Is that one of the Links_? Considering Luigi was still in jail as of now, it was the most logical assumption. A few minutes later, Young Link stopped himself in front of them, panting as he gripped his knees. He had only met the young Hylian once, but that meeting alone was enough for Robin to conclude that he was not of the strongest individuals.

"Young Link?" Pit asked. "Why are you here?"

"'Why are you here?'? That's what I should be asking you!" he challenged. "I'm the one that's supposed to be here for who-knows-how-long."

"You haven't heard the news?" Robyn marveled.

"What news?" Young Link asked sheepishly.

"You're coming back, dingus," Dark Pit informed in a blunt tone.

"I am?!" A huge smile spread across the Hylian's face and proceeded to hug the angel. "I am! It's been ten years, and I'm finally coming back!"

"Get off of me," he grumbled, elbowing the boy. The blonde was taken by surprise as he stumbled backwards and pressed two fingers on the spot Dark Pit had hit him.

"Pittoo!" Pit scolded.

"Hey, he's probably much older than he looks," his twin argued.

"Anyways, a-Young Link," Dr. Mario started, "we're a-here to find the source-a for a-strange disease."

"What kind of disease?" the Hylian requested.

"It's a-something I've never a-seen," the doctor explained. "When bitten, it a-makes you a-act like a-zombie."

"It's spread across the entire mansion, and it's only been a day," Robin added.

"Please, Young Link, if you know anything about this, tell us," his female counterpart finished.

"Well… that sounds like Wolf right now," Young Link recalled. "He's been acting more… bitey than usual." He rubbed his arm. "And like a zombie too, I guess."

"How long as he been acting like this?" he continued to question.

"A few days, why?"

Robin closed his eyes and smiled. "We were right," he said. "This disease did originate here."

"Wait." Lucario walked up to the Hylian. "Young Link, do you know how he got infected?"

"Something bit him," he replied

"What? What bit him?" the Pokemon prodded.

"I…" The blonde scratched his head. "I'm not sure. It looked really gross, and I didn't want to look at it any longer."

"Hmm…" Lucario looked over his shoulder for a few moments, focused on something behind him. After some time, he looked back over at them and said, "That strange aura I sensed is coming closer to us, and we're just standing here."

"Be ready, then." Dark Pit detached his Silver Bow and slashed the blades through the air. "We don't know what this is."

Dr. Mario pulled a pill out of his pocket and tossed in the air before catching it. "I'm a-ready."

Robin pulled his Levin Sword out of its scabbard and gripped it tightly, feeling its power course through his body. In his other hand, he pulled out one of his tomes so he would not be without magic in this upcoming encounter. He must be ready, no matter what happens. He simply gave an affirmative nod towards Lucario.

Pit spun his Palutena Bow around, Robyn got out her Bronze Sword and a tome, and Young Link unsheathed his sword and held out his shield in front of them. With everyone prepared, the Aura Pokemon once again led the way towards the mysterious aura, his paws crackling with the blue energy as they marched through the desert.

Finally, a low shape was in sight, crawling towards the group as they neared. Once they got close enough to get a clear look at the figure, the brunette suddenly stopped with a horrified expression on his face.

"Pit?" Dark Pit asked, glancing over at him. "What's wrong."

"No…" he breathed. "It can't be."

Robin looked over at the stranger nearing them, and suddenly, he, too, realized why the angel had stopped in his tracks. It was a face he thought he'd never see again.

* * *

 **A/N: Here it is! Chapter 8! Oh, are we getting close to the climax, now! Who is this mysterious figure the Detective Squad had stumbled across? Well, if you've read The Case of the Missing Smasher, you might get a pretty good idea on who this is. Regardless, I won't reveal who it is until next chapter. Make sure to look out for the next chapter, and Branchwing, out!**


	9. Chapter 9: Regrets

Nearing the Detective Squad was a familiar figure. Rot had overtaken much of his body, with the form-fitting armor becoming loose on his frame and bone peeking through his exposed head. Tufts of hair poked out of the top of his head, his eyes were sunken into his sockets, froth and drool surrounded his mouth, overall presenting an unpleasant sight. The bandana that was wrapped around his forehead had definitely seen better days. Dry blood, fungus, and dirt, among other things, covered him, but Pit could never forget that face, with the arrow wound still dark on his head. It was Solid Snake, the man the angel had unwillingly killed three years ago.

 _I killed you_ , he remembered. _I'm the reason why you look like this._ Guilt swelled up within his body, and he wished so badly he could get a do-over of his encounter with Snake. A picture of the soldier's dead body flashed through his mind, his taunts beforehand haunting his brain.

Dr. Mario gulped. "I think I'm a-going to a-puke."

"Me too…" Young Link agreed, nausea spreading across his features.

"Snake looks so different from the last time I saw him," Robyn commented, her eyes wide.

"Cause he's dead, _duh_!" Dark Pit snapped.

"He's not dead," Robin corrected. "He's _undead_."

"Whatever," Lucario dismissed. "We have to deal with him, now."

"I don't want to kill him _again_ ," Pit whined. It would just add more to his conscience.

"You don't have to," Robyn assured. She replaced her yellow tome with a red one, and then a fireball suddenly appeared once she opened it. "We can just set him on fire."

"No, we're not burning him," the annoyed Pokemon argued, closing the woman's book and extinguishing the flame. "We need him alive so the Hands can revive him."

"Fair point," she admitted.

"So… what do we do with him?" the white-haired man then asked. "We can't just leave him here." He sighed, shaking his head. "I can only imagine the worst."

"I'll try a-taking a-sample from Snake," Dr. Mario suggested. "Perhaps a-then I could-a analyze it and-a make a cure."

"Sounds like a great idea," Pit commented.

"Alright, then you-a guys need to step a-back," instructed the doctor. Keeping a good amount of space between them, the group stepped back and watched as he approached the zombie. Taking out a syringe, he slowly pressed the tip of the needle against his neck. Before he could complete his procedure, Snake suddenly lashed out and bit Dr. Mario's hand, causing him to cry out and fall to his knees. Multiple people gasped, horrified. His hand trembled as his blue eyes studied it, and soon he collapsed onto the desert floor.

" _Mario!_ " Pit cried. Just as the angel was about to bolt, Dark Pit grabbed his hand, holding him back from coming to his aid. His previous guilt became even more oppressive, complete with the same feeling of helplessness he felt when Palutena had been controlled by the Chaos Kin. First, he was responsible for Snake's death, and now, in turn, he was responsible for Dr. Mario getting infected.

"Alright, now we _have_ to find one of the Hands," Lucario demanded, eyes narrowing with determination. "They're the only ones who can cure this now."

"We could use magic," Robyn offered, holding up her tome.

"I can say for a fact that your magic won't work," the Pokemon argued. "This disease came from here, and the Hands control this world and anything native to it."

"How do you know?" the dark angel questioned, his tone a little mocking.

He shrugged and fired back, "Because I do."

"Can't we at least try?" the woman pleaded.

"Hmph. You could, but I'm telling you—it won't work," Lucario warned.

"Hmm…" Robyn took a few steps closer to Snake, who was gnawing on Dr. Mario's infected hand. The two locked eyes, and the zombie hissed. "I have an idea. If I use Nosferatu on one of them, but not absorb the life force, we could walk back to the mansion, and another mage could help us create a cure with it."

"That's… actually a good idea," Pittoo agreed. "It seems practical."

"I don't know…" Robin murmured. "Using Nosferatu continuously, without absorbing the energy, would take up a lot of your own energy, and if you faint, so be it."

"Can't you help her?" the white-winged angel spoke up, looking over at the tactician. "Two heads are better than one, after all!"

"It doesn't-"

"Whatever," Dark Pit interrupted. "Let's get on with it, before Dr. Mario wakes up."

"Alright…" Robyn gulped as she approached the zombie. She kneeled down, now pulling out a dark purple tome. "Nosferatu!" Within a few seconds, a dark energy pulled out of the soldier's body, and then a wispy ball lingered in the air, waiting to be absorbed. Slowly, she rose, grunting as she got herself situated. She turned around to face them and announced, "Let's get going."

The tactician began walking towards the group when a hand grabbed her leg and knocked her to the ground. She yelped as she lost her focus, allowing the life energy to absorb into her own body. With newfound strength, she quickly got up and pointed her sword at him. With Snake's tight grasp, however, her boot slid off, revealing stockings underneath.

"Well, it's clear that's not going to work," Lucario concluded, crossing his arms.

"We have to get out of here!" Young Link suddenly panicked. "Dr. Mario's going to wake up and bite us if we don't!"

"If Snake doesn't bite us first," Dark Pit added in agreement, his voice low. "He's right, we're get—" The angel suddenly cried out in pain, snapping everyone's attention to him. He was gripping his foot, a small bite marking his toes. Within moments it started throbbing, and a shocked expression crossed his face before he collapsed to the dry ground.

"Pittoo!" Pit cried, reaching a hand out for him. _I can't lose you, too!_ Much to his own dismay, the boy still stared at his infected foot, his eyelids drooping. Young Link then picked up something yellow off the ground and started examining it; the brunette could not make out what it was. Another scream then sounded, causing another shift in the group's focus. Snake had managed to knock down Robyn again, pulling her stocking off when she got up once more. Unfortunately for her, he attacked again, knocking her down for the final time and giving a swift bite to her foot.

" _Robyn!_ " the white-haired man promptly screeched. Soon, Young Link screamed as well, shaking his hand as the thing he picked up off the ground clung onto his finger. When it finally fell off, revealing its face, Pit heard Lucario gasp. Lying on the ground was Pichu, his mangled head only hanging by a thread. Dry blood covered his chest, and like Snake, his mouth wreathed with foam. The angel had to look away; he looked worse as a zombie than Solid Snake did.

"Pit," Pittoo started, his voice quiet and weak.

"Robin," moaned the tactician's female counterpart.

"Lucario…" uttered Young Link as he collapsed to the ground.

"You have to…" Dark Pit fell onto his side, unconscious, before he could finish his sentence.

"…Find the cure," Robyn continued. She let out a shaky breath as her body relaxed and she fainted.

"Everyone's counting on… you…" The young Hylian was the last to fall, slumping over as he blacked out. At the same time, Dr. Mario's body shuddered, followed by him standing up at last. He threw his arms out and started walking towards the Detective Squad.

"Now we really have to go," Lucario urged.

"I'm already two steps ahead of ya," Pit yelled as he started running. To where? He could not say for certain. Robin and the Aura Pokemon trailed behind them, and the trio ran as fast as they could. They continued running, looking behind their backs every once in a while to see what was following them. Fortunately, the infected Smashers were soon no longer in sight. When that was the case, they stopped, all out-of-breath.

"What now?" the brunette asked, huffing.

After a brief moment of silence, the white-haired man proposed, "We find Master Hand and Crazy Hand."

* * *

 **A/N: You know, I thought this chapter was going to be longer... but turns out, that isn't the case. So, this probably should have come out earlier, but, like expected, I neglected working on this. Regardless, things are getting intense! With only two more chapters left, we're reaching our climax quickly! Make sure to watch for the next chapters, and Branchwing, out!**


	10. Chapter 10: Racing Against the Clock

"And do you suggest we do that?" Lucario inquired.

"Well… you're the key to this, Lucario," Robin started. "If every living thing has an aura, then that must mean Master Hand and Crazy Hand have auras, right?"

The Pokemon nodded. "Their auras are some of the strongest I've ever seen." The brighter the aura, the stronger they were. Few matched the aura of the Hands, which included most legendary Pokemon and Palutena. It truly was a rarity.

"Then, with your ability to read auras, we could track them down," the man finished.

"So, think you can do it?" Pit asked.

"I can…" In his aura vision, he looked around for anything new. Of course, Pit's and Robin's auras surrounded him, them being the people closest to him. Far off in the distance were faint auras, likely the Smashers who had just got infected, lumbering in their direction. However, he did not detect the auras he associated with Master Hand nor Crazy Hand. "But we'll need to keep walking," he then deduced.

" _More_ walking?" the angel whined.

"Hopefully it'll only be for a little longer," the tactician assured. "…Hopefully," he repeated, doubt shadowing his features.

"Then we better get walking," said the Pokemon as he started the trek once more. He kept a watchful eye on the auras in the Land of the Exiles at all times, hoping that eventually, he would spot the life energy of one of the floating hands. For miles, there was nothing to see except the sights he saw before.

Eventually, he spotted another faint light in the distance, much to his dismay. "There's another infected Smasher coming up. Be ready."

"How far?" requested Pit.

"Pretty far," he answered.

"So… we don't need to pull out our weapons right now," he concluded.

"No," Lucario argued, "it means we have time to prepare."

"I say we go a different direction," Robin suggested.

The Pokemon searched the area for auras again, to see only the infected Smasher's. "It's the only option we have. Let's go."

The other two nodded. The group turned sharply and continued their journey. Again, they were met with radio silence, though Lucario checked on the infected Smasher every-now-and-then. To his relief, they seemed to be moving linearly, while the Detective Squad was moving away from them. With that threat out of the way, he could relax a little more, but he must still keep watch. He would hate to be caught off-guard in a mission as important as this one.

Suddenly, the earth shook, knocking the trio off-balance. "What was that?!" the angel perplexed once he regained his footing, bewildered at the event.

"An earthquake, perhaps?" the white-haired man considered.

"I doubt it," Lucario spoke up. "The only earthquakes around here are caused by the Pokemon in Poke Balls and POW Blocks, and I doubt anyone would use them outside of battle, especially when most of the Smashers are infected."

"...And they can't reach this far, can they?" Pit added.

"No, they can't, even if they were outside the arena," he explained further. He looked around, searching for auras once more, to find nothing. "Whatever caused it is powerful. It's too far away from me to sense it."

"Do you think this is Master Hand or Crazy Hand?" Robin asked.

"I really hope it is," the brunette commented.

"It has to be," Lucario answered. "It has to be."

"If you say so," the tactician concluded. "Come on, let's go."

The Detective Squad started running now, confident. The blue Pokemon searched out for new auras continuously, especially so whenever tremors rocked the desert every now and then. Then, he saw it. At first, it was only a pinprick in the endless sky, like a beacon. Steadily, it grew larger and larger as they moved forward.

"We're almost there," Lucario encouraged. "Just a little farther." Pit cheered at his statement.

Suddenly, a shadowy ball of energy flew past them like a strong gust of wind, narrowly missing them. They stopped, surprised, but then they kept on going. Even when the words were said, they recognized it as one of Crazy Hand's attacks. _Just what is going on?_

They finally reached the end of the journey when they encountered Master Hand and Crazy Hand battling each other a few meters away. They threw a flurry of attacks at each other with little consideration of their surroundings. It was like the Detective Squad was not even there. Several times did Master Hand's bullets almost do them in, or did Crazy Hand's bombs almost blew them up. They were pushed back, with each attack getting more and more dangerous. It was one hand slapping the other into the ground or Crazy Hand's spasms causing the earthquakes. Finally, the battle came to a climax when the two hands pushed against each other, fingers interlocked, one trying to overpower the other. The trio watched with intent eyes. At times, it seemed like Master Hand would win, and other times, it seemed like Crazy Hand would win. In the end, their motives for attacking each other were still not clear.

"If one of them destroys the other," Lucario whispered to the others, "then this universe falls out of balance."

"I'm still surprised you know this, Lucario," Robin commented, amused.

He shrugged. "I have my ways."

"And if this universe falls out of balance, then no more Super Smash Bros., right?" Pit inquired.

He nodded. "Correct. No balance, no Super Smash Bros."

"Aw, I really hope that doesn't happen. I like it here."

"And that's why we have to stop them," the tactician concluded.

The angel nodded and stood up. "Master Hand! Crazy Hand!" he shouted as loud as he could. The hands stopped battling momentarily.

"Pit?" said the former, surprised. After a pause, he added, "Robin? Lucario?"

"Y'know, you _really_ shouldn't be here," warned the latter. "This is personal!"

"Why are you even fighting?" Robin prodded. "You two team up all the time!"

"In clas-" Pit started.

"Please don't," he interrupted, grumbling.

"Our point is, there's more important things at stake," continued Lucario.

"Like the disease back in the Smash Mansion," the brunette elaborated. "Well, we found it here, too."

"Oh, _that_ disease," Crazy Hand recalled.

"Oh, so _now_ you admit to creating it," Master Hand spat.

"Look, I didn't know what you meant," he protested. The left hand knocked the right hand off of him and floated up to the Detective Squad. "So, what was it?"

"The disease," the Pokemon deadpanned. "We need a cure for it."

"A cure, huh?" He grabbed Lucario and began juggling him. "How many people are infected?" He continued to be tossed up and down in the air, making him motion sick.

"I'm not sure," Robin admitted. "Most of the Smash Mansion, if I have to admit."

Crazy Hand put the Aura Pokemon down, and he threw up. He sat down, gripping his head. "Urgh..."

"In that case..." He snapped his finger, and suddenly the world went white. Lucario panicked, unsure of what was happening. He couldn't move; all he could do was sit here and wait. Eventually, the light faded, and everything was the way it was before the snap. Notably, his sickness was gone, and the pile of vomit next to him was missing. "There! Everything's normal again!"

"That was anticlimactic," he grumbled.

"You didn't have to do that," Master Hand scolded. "You could have created a cure, and then the Detective Squad could have easily administered it themselves."

"Yeah, curing everyone would have been so satisfactory!" Pit agreed.

"Yeah, I know. But I like the easy way out, and curing everyone hand-by-hand would take too long," Crazy Hand deflected, twirling his fingers around an invisible piece of hair.

"So... what now?" the Pokemon asked. "Do we just go home or something?"

"Do you want to see your friends again?" the floating hand inquired.

"Yes," Robin replied.

He snapped his fingers, and Dr. Mario, Robyn, and Dark Pit suddenly appeared next to him. "Done!"

"What happened?" the white-haired woman perplexed, looking around.

"We have a-been a-teleported!" the doctor answered cheerfully.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," the raven-haired boy remarked with biting sarcasm. "We _totally_ didn't figure that out on our own."

"OK, but seriously," started Robyn, "we just woke up in the middle of the Land of the Exiles, and I have no idea what happened."

"Do you remember the disease?" Robin pressed.

Dr. Mario nodded. "Well, of a-course. Did we a-find the a-cure?"

"Not exactly..." Pit replied. "Crazy Hand just snapped his fingers, and everything went back to normal."

"So you're telling me we did this all for nothing?!" Dark Pit cried out in anger. "What a rip-off!" He dug his head into his hand, and sighed. "Look, if this story ever gets printed, remind me not to buy it."

"Even despite us saying stuff about how Master Hand or Crazy Hand could fix this multiple times?" the light angel puzzled.

"Yeah," he replied.

"So... what happened to us?" Robyn returned to the original subject once more. "Why weren't we involved in this?"

"You got infected," explained Lucario. "Simple as that."

"Well, it makes a-sense," Dr. Mario admitted.

"So, Crazy Hand," Pit then spoke up, "why did you create this disease in the first place? You and Master Hand are supposed to make sure we're safe, aren't you?"

"Yeah, that's a _loong_ story," he admitted. "So, let me start from the beginning!"

* * *

 **A/N: And that's the end to chapter 10. I thought Dark Pit's thoughts on the ending of this chapter would reflect the thoughts of some of the readers, but of course, I can't predict the future. So, I would be happy to hear your thoughts on this chapter. Anyways, there's only one more chapter! Pretty exciting, right? Don't expect a lot of action; we do need a falling action before our resolution, after all! Keep an eye out for it, and Branchwing, out!**


	11. Chapter 11: Punishment

The Detective Squad, their friends, and Master Hand leaned in closer to Crazy Hand, hoping to fully absorb the details of his story.

"Some time before we announced the next tournament, I was just chilling in my office, doing boring paperwork and stuff like that."

"I like doing paperwork..." Master Hand murmured.

"So, anyways, one day, some stage bosses came in. They were pretty angry with being beat by the Smashers every time they played on their respective stages. They just begged me to do something about it. At first, I thought about turning every stage into its Omega form forever, but then I remembered people would probably catch onto it and leave. So, I turned them down, and they left."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Dark Pit asked.

"You see, a little later, I decided to have some fun before I had to round up all the Exiles and unleashed a disease onto Pichu and Snake. I just wanted to see what would happen; it was entirely experimental. What I didn't expect was it to spread to the mansion. Once the outbreak happened, those stage bosses walked up to me, praising me about how I 'didn't betray them after all'. I don't know what happened to them after that, but I'm going to assume they got infected themselves! Ha!"

"Why am I not surprised," Lucario deadpanned.

"But why didn't you stop it?" Pit queried. Everyone could agree it was an odd situation, at least in Pit's mind.

"Aside from if you stopped it, there would be no story and all," Pittoo added.

"Eh, it was fun to watch the mansion descend into chaos as the Detective Squad struggled to find a cure," Crazy Hand replied, dramatizing it.

"I helped to a-find a cure, a-too!" Dr. Mario protested.

"...And Dr. Mario, of course, of course!" he added. "How could I forget!" He floated down and gave the doctor a gentle pat on the back.

"Let's go back to the mansion," Master Hand suggested. Within an instant, he snapped his figures, and suddenly they were standing in front of the grand gates that would lead into the arena. Already battles were back in session, with the giant TV showcasing a match between Lucina and Palutena. They were fighting on Gaur Plain, and the battle was intense.

The swordswoman swung her Falchion at the goddess, only for Palutena to counter it. Lucina was sent flying across the stage, grabbing on the ledge of a grassy platform before she could fall to her doom. Suddenly, the screen became dark, and a metallic figure shone in the distance. Metal Face appeared, standing on two of the smaller platforms on the stage. He made a snide remark before slashing his claws through the air. The two women were pushed back by the impact, but now they set their sights on defeating Metal Face.

"I'm going to have a little word with Metal Face," Crazy Hand informed.

"In the middle of a battle?!" Pit complained, surprised.

"You can't do that!" Robyn argued.

"Watch me." He pushed the gates open, leading to the coliseum that surrounded the stage. The group watched as Crazy Hand floated down to Gaur Plain, causing every fighter to stop what they were doing. Pit, Robin, and Lucario ran up to the edge to get a closer look.

"Crazy Hand?" said the three people on the stage.

"What are you doing here?" Lucina demanded, a little annoyed.

"What a delight to see you!" Metal Face greeted. "Have you come to battle me as well?"

"No, no, not at all." Crazy Hand clenched the Mechon with a tight fist. He squeezed harder, and soon Metal Face began to glow as he was reverted back to a trophy. When the floating hand opened his hand, a small figure in the likeness of the Mechon was resting on his palm. Crazy Hand whistled as he left the stage. "Keep on fighting, you two!" The women simply gave him strange looks.

Eventually, the goddess remarked, "Well, that makes things easier for us."

"May the best Smasher win," finished the swordswoman. Quickly, the two resumed their battle.

When he returned to Master Hand and the others, he plopped the trophy of Metal Face down in Dr. Mario's hands, garnering a grunt from him. He snapped his fingers, and suddenly, they were in a messy room. Items were scattered all over the floor, and in the corner of room, Ridley, the Yellow Devil, and Waluigi were playing a card game.

When they approached them, Waluigi turned around in his chair to look at the two hands, while the stage bosses simply looked up at them. "Wah? Master Hand? Crazy Hand?"

"Go away," Ridley grumbled, "you interrupted our game of poker." The Yellow Devil nodded in agreement. The two hands picked them up, one for each hand. "Hey! What are you doing?!" he demanded. The yellow robot, on the other hand, simply let out a cry of protest. They squeezed them until they turned into trophies themselves. They dropped them on the table, breaking it. Waluigi screamed and ran away.

Dr. Mario shook his head and smiled. "You know, I kinda feel a-bad for him a-sometimes."

Master Hand nabbed the trophy of Metal Face off of the doctor and decided to make a speech. "I know I do not say this enough, but thank you. Without the Detective Squad, we probably would have never tracked down the source of this disease, much less save everyone."

"Even though it was Crazy Hand who did the saving," Dark Pit sneered quietly.

"Pittoo!" Pit scolded in a hushed tone.

More aggressively, the right hand added, "We would have not gotten a certain someone to confess what happened, either." Crazy Hand tensed up at this statement.

"W-We'll decide what to do with the stage bosses," the other hand stuttered.

"We ensure you that we will give a proper punishment," Master Hand assured.

"Does this mean Ridley isn't in the next tournament anymore?" Robin inquired.

"Oh, no. We'll just find a different Ridley," he answered. "There's no need to worry about that."

"So, bye!" Crazy Hand finished. The two hands teleported away with the trophies, leaving just the broken table and a mess of cards and gold behind. The Smashers present decided to clean it up before leaving the room to go elsewhere. They said their goodbyes and parted their separate ways.

Pit and Dark Pit were walking back to the lobby together. "What now?" the former suddenly asked.

"Huh?"

"What now? We found the source of the disease, and everyone's cured, so... what now?"

"We just go back to battling," Pittoo replied. "Like how it was before the story."

The angel simply smiled. "I guess some things never change, right, Pittoo?"

He groaned and dug his face into his hand. "Yeah, you're right. And for the last time, quit calling me that."

* * *

A week later, the two tacticians were simply reading a few books in the library. Things were relatively peaceful since the incident. Master Hand and Crazy Hand explained what had happened to the stage bosses, as well as who caused the outbreak in the first place. Metal Face and the Yellow Devil's punishment was community service, while Ridley had a much more severe punishment—he had to leave the Smash Mansion as soon as possible. Though some were upset that they had to be punished, most were happy that justice had been brought. Most, mainly heroes, did not like them anyways.

Their bliss was disrupted when a loud roar sounded in the hallways. Robin sighed, put away the book he was reading, and walked outside. There, he saw Ridley, his large figure towering over Samus Aran, who pointed her gun at him. The draconic beast flexed his claws and gave a malevolent grin.

"What are you doing?" the tactician demanded.

"Just having one last battle before I leave," Ridley answered.

"Okay, but not in the hallways!" Robyn butted in.

"He never listens," Samus groaned.

Both tacticians got out their tomes containing Thunder and shocked the beast with their combined power. Ridley shrieked as he fell to the ground with a loud thud, his body crackling with electricity. Decorations ranging from photo frames to vases were knocked down with his fall. Samus simply stared at them after the display.

"Thank... you?" she thanked. "I could have fought him off myself, but I appreciate it."

Robin walked over to his body and touched him, turning him into a trophy. "Any time, Samus." The bounty hunter nodded and left. The white-haired man brought the trophy of Ridley outside the gates, where he activated it. When he was staring into his eyes once more, Ridley simply hissed at him and flew away.

"So... Robin," started his female counterpart. He looked over his shoulder to see her approaching him. "I heard the Pits are fighting each other in a little bit. Do you want to watch?"

"I did hope to finish that book, but I suppose I wouldn't mind a break," he agreed.

The duo walked back to the lobby, where they saw the two angels standing outside the gates. Pit was talking to Lucario, while Dark Pit sharpened his bow.

"Pit! Lucario!" Robin called, walking up to them.

"Hi Robin," Pit greeted.

"Nice seeing you," greeted Lucario.

"I was hoping we could have a battle soon, now that everything has calmed down," the white-haired man said.

"Woah! Me and Lucario were just talking about that!" the angel exclaimed.

"It is quite the coincidence," the Aura Pokemon noted.

The three laughed. "So, it's agreed, then?" Robin asked for confirmation.

"100%," Pit confirmed.

The tactician smiled. "Well, you know what they say."

The trio put their hands together. "All together now," Lucario muttered. "1, 2, 3..."

"May the best Smasher win!"

* * *

 **A/N: At last! The last chapter is here! I decided to post it today, since it marks the four-year anniversary of the last chapter of "The Case of the Missing Smasher" being posted! Thank you, everyone, for following this story for the past year, and I hope this brings a satisfying conclusion to the story. Will there be a third installment in this series? Possibly, but that probably won't be for another few years; I have other stories I would like to finish first. Once again, thank you for reading, and Branchwing, out!**


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